Olympic champion Grant Bramwell proudly holds his gold medal from Los Angeles - a prize he said had secured after he and teammates were hardened by hardships. Photo / NZME
As New Zealand's best kayakers prepare for the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Canada, a star of one of our first Olympic gold medal-winning crews has opened up about how adversity was a key part of them becoming champions. Neil Reid reports
The sewing handiwork of Grant Bramwell's mother was close to his heart as he waited at the start line ahead of his World Championship debut.
Sitting proudly on the left chest of his black racing T-shirt – which Bramwell had earlier purchased from a department store in Gisborne - was a silver fern which his mother had lovingly stitched on.
Just a year out from what would be an historic Los Angeles Olympics for New Zealand's kayak team, a group of Kiwi paddlers turned up at Tampere, Finland, which he remembers was very much driven by "No 8 wire" attitude of getting things done on the smell of an oily rag.
"We had no money. My first trip to the world championships when I was 22, there was no funding," Bramwell told the Herald.
"We had to fund that and a trip to Europe for some lead-up races.
"I went down to Farmers and bought a black T-shirt . . . that was my racing shirt. My mum sewed a silver fern onto it. That is what it was like, we had no [supplied] uniform."
The conditions that Bramwell and his underdog teammates operated in at the 1983 championships are a world away from that which are enjoyed by New Zealand's 14-strong team set to compete in Canada.
Back in the early 1980s there was no centralised funding for a non-Olympic campaign.
It meant the cost for things such as racing equipment, team gear and travel – including some pretty modest accommodation – had to be met by the kayakers themselves.
In contrast, other crews had cutting-edge race set-ups, and were well funded so they didn't have to worry about the costs of travel, accommodation and team kit. Some opponents were further advantaged by state-sponsored doping programmes.
Adopting an attitude that would lead to stunning Olympic success the following year, the plucky Kiwis turned being under-resourced compared to much of their opposition into a positive.
"The hardship in those days in many respects played into our hands," Bramwell said. "It made us want the results more, especially when we saw some of the well-resourced teams overseas.
"We just thought, 's***, we can kick their a***. Just look at them with all their flash gear'."
Bramwell said he had nothing but "fond memories" when the New Zealand kayakers were taking on the world's best with a set-up which was "very much No 8 wire".
"Even though we were staying in barracks and scruffy accommodation ... it just didn't matter," he said.
"People looked at us, but when we put our black shirts on and got on the course we just took on another dimension. We really felt like we were there to prove a point.
"If you are harbouring on those negatives it won't be conducive to your results. We just didn't think about it. We were indirectly using it as a positive."
Bramwell returned without a medal from his debut showing at the World Championships.
But teammates Ian Ferguson (silver in the K-1 500m) and Alan Thompson (bronze in the K-1 1000m) did make it onto the medal rostrum.
The platform and desire to succeed laid in Tampere – and in the lead-up to the champs – would result in a golden glow for New Zealand kayaking at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
While qualification for LA – which saw Bramwell join Ferguson, Thompson and Paul Ferguson in the K-4 1000m – resulted in some funding from the New Zealand Olympic Committee, during the build-up to the regatta at Lake Casitas.
"We had our team car with six of us in there, we had all of our paddles stuck out through the sunroof. It was real good fun times and we just thrived on that, being the poor cousin," Bramwell said.
"We had Alan there who had done very well against the Eastern Bloc in the very early 1980s and shown he could compete against them, whether or not they were cheating."
Bramwell said Thompson also played a key part in off-water preparations too for the Kiwi kayak team who would go on to win four gold medals at the 1984 Olympics; the most golds from any country competing in kayaking regatta in LA.
The three-time Olympian had earlier introduced some of New Zealand's top kayaking talent to Arthur Lydiard's endurance-based training programmes which had revolutionised middle and long-distance running.
"Most countries in the world were just doing interval training at that stage and we started doing these huge miles [in the kayak] . . . up to three hours at a time," Bramwell said.
"We were just limited by when your bum went out with some bum sores.
"I used to absolutely love the training, the racing, the travelling ... the whole thing. Training wasn't a chore for me. I had some real goals, I was chasing them, it was a really good bunch of people ... I enjoyed that time."
The kayakers were targeting to peak at the 1984 LA Games.
But by the time the squad - including the K-4 1000 crew Bramwell was a part of – arrived in America, some of the teams that stood in the way of a potential medal were missing.
Fourteen Eastern bloc countries, and allies elsewhere in the world, opted to boycott the Olympics.
The boycott – which came four years after the American-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics - began when the Soviet Union said they had fears for their safety in the US.
Romania – who had the world champion K-4 1000 crew – were the only Eastern bloc nation to compete in LA.
But the Kiwi crew still had plenty of stiff opposition to beat if it was to get on the medal rostrum, as well as trying to triumph over an illness-plagued build-up.
"A lot of the team got pretty sick in Europe and we never actually raced as a four together until we got to LA," Bramwell said.
"All our plans of racing in the European lead-ups didn't happen."
But the crew clicked once the Olympic regatta began, recording the quickest heat and semifinal times on the way to the final.
Ferguson, MacDonald, Bramwell and Thompson again blitzed the field in the final, with the world champion Romanian crews finishing out of the medals in fourth spot.
Bramwell said it was his "most nervous race", saying he felt extra pressure after his teammates had already triumphed in the K1 500m, K1 1000m and K2 500m.
"I remember being incredibly nervous the night before the race, not sleeping, and running through the race over and over in my mind with every possible scenario," he recalled.
"On the start line ... I remember sitting there and wanting to go."
The Kiwi quartet were crowned Olympic champions just three minutes and two seconds later.
Bramwell's permanent physical reminder of the crew's heroics – his cherished gold medal – is kept to this day in the shoebox.
Also featuring in the box featuring special keepsakes is the bronze medal he won in the mega-endurance K1 10,000m at the 1985 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships held in Mechelen, Belgium.
But there was to be no silverware from Bramwell's second – and final – Olympics appearance at the 1988 Games in Seoul.
Ferguson, MacDonald and Thompson withdrew and were no longer part of the K4 crew, opting to concentrate on other kayaking disciplines.
Instead, a crew led by Bramwell, also featuring Brent Clode, John McDonald and Stephen Richards, travelled to South Korea, failing to progress past the semifinal stage.
The young crew had finished a promising 7th in the previous year's World Championships.
"For some reason in Seoul we just didn't fire," Bramwell recalled. "I can't really explain it because the lead-up was pretty good.
"Sometimes it is just not your day for whatever reason."
While unable to add to his medal collection in South Korea, the 1988 Games did give Bramwell the chance to soak up more of a traditional Olympic experience.
A "massive security presence" was around anything OIympic-linked in Los Angeles.
"When you are not used to having armed guys around you, walking with you wherever you go, it is a little bit unnerving and surreal," Bramwell said.
Four years later a much more relaxed atmosphere welcomed Olympians to Seoul.
"The environments were just totally different," Bramwell said.
"America was America. You couldn't get into any events, everything was jampacked.
"The Seoul Olympics, most of the events had empty seats apart from the combat sports which they really enjoyed.
"I can remember watching swimming on the TV and seeing an event come up, and running straight over to the swimming stadium and just walking in and got a seat. I sat and watched the end of the decathlon and the 200m women's final by just wandering into the grandstand."
Seoul proved to be the end of Bramwell's Olympic journey.
He was no longer in the elite squad by the time Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics.
Thirty-eight years on from being part of the historic Los Angeles Olympic triumph, Bramwell tries to stay as active as possible.
Mountain biking is the pharmacist's "go-to" pursuit and aims to have up to three rides a week. He also keeps fit by playing tennis, golf and also going to the gym at his local surf club.
The 61-year-old's passion for family and sport is such that he is looking at selling the central Gisborne pharmacy which carries the Bramwell now.
"It is a family business and has been there 100-odd years; I am third generation [to run it]," he said.
"But I am looking at winding it up now as there is lots of other stuff that I want to do in terms of family and recreation."
In early August he'll also be keeping a close eye on the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships to be held in Nova Scotia, Canada.
New Zealand's 14-strong team is headed by five-time Olympic champion Lisa Carrington. She won three golds at last year's Olympics; including the K-1 in both the 200m and 500m, and also combining with Caitilin Regal to win the K-2 500m.
"The sport is in a pretty good place," Bramwell said.
"We are very fortunate at the moment we have a lot of good young paddlers coming through and a fantastic role model in Lisa Carrington who has driven a lot of that over the years."
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