So when the Toronto-born coach met the paddler from Senegal, it was two worlds colliding in every conceivable way.

“At first he was so unstable and I was like ‘oh boy, we could be in trouble,’” said Luce, who learned the sport in Canada before being hired as the head coach of USA Canoe-Kayak in 2005. “It was tough at first. (Fall) had some issues with balance.”

Balance would have been a much bigger deal at home when a tipped boat in the African Olympic qualification regatta in Kenya last year might have meant a lean snack for the hungry crocs.

The lanes were crooked and poorly marked and the boats were nothing like the sleek vessels used here and at the U.S. training centre in Chula Vista, Calif. And how is this for venue security: Guards with shotguns had to patrol the water in case a man-eater drifted too close to the competition.

“Yes, it is true, I almost fell in the water once or maybe twice,” Fall said of his initial training session with Luce. “It is very, very different from my home.

“But I am so proud to represent my country at the Olympic Games. I am famous in Senegal, everybody in my country knows me.”

Not many others know of him, which makes Fall one of the hidden gems that lie blissfully below the surface of any Olympics.

Fall is everything the U.S. hoops Dream Team, super swimmer Michael Phelps and the glitz and glamour of the track and field meet which unfolds before 90,000-plus each night at the Bird’s Nest is not.

He comes from a country where the average family income is less than $700 a year, a nation that has captured just one Olympic medal in its history.

And he is part of a worthy piece of good will by the International Olympic Committee, which often can be faulted for forgetting the little athlete and for eliminating amateur from amateur sports.

Fall has done his training in the U.S. the past two years as part of Olympic Solidarity, an IOC initiative that siphons some of the overflowing pots of television revenue and used it to help foster athletes in underdeveloped countries.

It encourages powerful nations to adopt athletes and help them prepare for the Games by lending support with superior coaching and training facilities.

Which brings us to Luce, who once coached Canada’s superstar of kayaking, Adam van Koeverden, in Oakville and later was head coach at the Mississauga Canoe Club.

It wasn’t as if Luce didn’t have enough challenges when he took the U.S. coaching job. He had one young child and another on the way and he was taking over a program well down the food chain of U.S. Olympic Committee priority.

“Some of the Canadian coaches thought I was nuts, that I was walking into a den of lions,” said Luce. “But I didn’t look at it that way. I saw it as a career opportunity too good to turn down.”

So when he was approached by the USOC to consider mentoring Fall, he jumped at the chance and especially the challenge. “Assane has made a big, big jump considering where he was a year and a half ago,” Luce said. “Just to even be at the Olympics is incredible for him. He qualified on his own right, he just didn’t just get handed the entry.”

He has by no means been a threat against the top paddlers, which isn’t the point. In his 1,000-metre heat here Monday, Fall finished last, 40 seconds behind winner Tim Brabants of Britain. He rallied on Tuesday to finish fifth in his 500-metre heat and move on to the semi-final.

A bilingual Canadian, Luce was able to ease the transition for Fall, whose mother tongue is French.

“It was a bit of a culture shock at first, living in the U.S., getting used to the food the culture and the language,” Luce said. “But he’s very adaptable and fit in with our group. The guys love him, the gals love him. Assane just lights up a room with his smile.” Fall feels the same way about Luce and the fraternity of North American paddlers who have helped him improve and open the world too him through their sport. “Nathan, I love Nathan,” Fall said. “He is a very good coach and he has helped me with so much. And I love Adam (van Koeverden.) He is always helping me. I have so much to learn from him.” Funny how that works: Many Olympians could learn a lot from Fall, too.

“It was very emotional for us when he qualified for these Olympics,” Luce said. “When he came off the airplane on his way back to the U.S. from Africa many of us went to the airport to meet him. “It was a really powerful moment.”



By ROB LONGLEY
From winnipegsun.com