- Burgess rode a clean race in the final to put himself in medal position.
- The British canoeist had agonisingly finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics.
- Burgess claimed a silver medal this time, with Frenchman Nicolas Gestin winning.
Every time Adam Burgess had imagined winning a medal at these Paris Olympics, it had ended in tears.
So as he stood on the C1 podium in the blazing sun with a silver medal around his neck, it was no surprise to see them fall: the tears of joy from a veteran who had dedicated his life to canoe slalom and thought this moment might never come.
Three years ago at the Tokyo Games, he missed out on the podium by an agonising 0.16 seconds, finishing in a pitiful fourth place. When he moved into the gold medal spot with a brilliant run of 96.84 seconds in Paris on Monday, there were only three rivals left and the fear of being knocked off the podium once again crossed his mind.
But when only French favourite Nicolas Gestin outpaced him, generating a cacophony of noise with a stunning run of 91.36 seconds, silver was his and the tears could flow.
“I had this image in my head of hugging my coach Craig (Morris) at the finish line and everyone crying their eyes out. That’s exactly how it happened,” said Burgess, 32.
Adam Burgess won silver in the men’s canoe slalom event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
The Briton seemed surprised to take the lead with just three rivals remaining.
Burgess finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics but was assured of a medal as his rivals faltered
Frenchman Nicolas Gestin was the last athlete to compete in front of an expectant home crowd.
Gestin produced a flawless race to secure gold and displace Burgess into silver.
“I thought about myself when I was 10 or 11 years old and I dreamed about that moment. I thought about the past Olympics when I watched them, in Athens and Beijing, and I thought about my parents, my family, everyone who was in the stands supporting me. I thought a lot about the disappointment of Tokyo.”
Burgess came into these Olympics as the only member of Great Britain’s canoe slalom team without an individual world title on his CV. Having taken up the sport while at primary school, he admitted he was encouraged by those who doubted his prowess at the highest level.
“A lot of people said I had to be lucky and maybe I wasn’t the one to win a medal,” said the Stoke-on-Trent paddler. “I admit there was a bit of that which gave me a bit of courage to go and prove people wrong today.”
“We’re not a very popular sport and we can’t boast about it in front of so many people. I think it’s the most beautiful sport at the Olympics. I was trying to focus on that and show everyone how much I was enjoying it.”
On previous occasions, he paid the price for his conservatism. This time, he was determined not to play it safe and reaped the rewards of an attacking approach that led to only one error midway through the race.
“I really wanted to give it my all today,” Burgess said. “I’ve paid the price and missed opportunities by being a bit cautious at times, but what I really wanted to do was go out with confidence, paddle in style and enjoy myself.”
“When I looked up and saw that I had finished first, I realized that I had done enough on the rest of the course to take that mistake. I was so happy. It was magical.”