We spoke to Mark again after the Opening Ceremony and asked him if he had had any brushes with fame.
The Olympics are going really well. Training has now finished and we race in 2 days. I'm looking forward to finally getting out there and racing. There has been a huge buildup and amount of preparation for only a few minutes of paddling.
The opening ceremony was fantastic, everyone was so excited, it was great. We also had a team BBQ with Roy and HG which was hilarious.
I have managed to see the last two nights of swimming which was exciting as we won 3 gold medals and a silver. We were sitting down with the swimmers so that made it even better. We're not watching any more races now though, just staying in the village for the next few nights and resting up as much as possible before the race.
We asked Mark about his training and how he felt just after he arrived in Athens. Here is what he said:
For the last two weeks I have been back in Australia training at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Before that we had a two week training camp in Athens followed by two weeks of racing in Czech Republic and Germany. I have just arrived in Athens and today we begin 10 days of training.
I'm very excited. The whole experience has so far been unbelievable. It's hard not to get distracted by it and lose focus on what we're here to do. I just ran into Peter Brock who was putting up some flags in the Aussie zone for the Rugby this afternoon. That was pretty cool.
I think that being here I will become even more motivated to succeed. The first thing I thought when arriving in the Athletes Village was that I want to be here for the next Olympics. I think the experience will motivate me to train harder and perform better to ensure I'm here in 2008, and race to the best of my ability this year.
The lead up hasn't all been smooth though. I lost my passport before our last trip in June and only realised it was missing 3 hours before my flight. I had to stay behind and get a new one the next day and met the team in Athens three days late (it wasn't funny at the time but now I can laugh about it).
