“I always really wanted to be part of that group of people that people looked as the group of the best kayakers in the world. I never thought there would ever be just one, everybody’s got their favorite but I just wanted to be among the Eirik Veras Larsen’s and the Anders Gustaffason’s and the Kenny Wallace’s and the Tim Brabant’s and the Knut Holtman’s and the Lutz Liwowski’s. I never really cared who was better amongst the best but I just wanted to be part of that fraternity and that fraternity grows every year and it’s awesome. I’m proud about the racing and the paddling that I did over my career, I’ve had a lot of ups and a lot of downs but I think that’s natural in anybody’s career that spans 20 years. I was inspired by a lot of just things I saw down at the canoe club and inspired by things I watched on the international scene and athletes like Steve Nash and you know the athletes that everybody looks up to are certainly super inspirational but I get as much from kids down at the canoe club or lending a helping hand. One of the most inspirational things I saw last year at the Olympics was Penny Oleksiak. I mean, her racing was amazing but the most impressive moment I saw was she took her medal off and gave it to her teammate after they won a relay medal and her relay partner was the 5th partner on the relay and hadn’t receive her medal yet. She just took it off her neck and put it around her teammate’s, that was so generous and natural, she was 16 years old at the time. I was like ‘wow that kid’s the most well adjusted teenage Olympic Champion I’ve ever seen’, so I’m pretty inspired by all the acts of sincere gratitude and generosity.” – Adam Van Koeverden, Olympic and World Champion, 4x Olympic Medalist, Multiple World Championship Medalist. (3/4)
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