Wakeboarding: Wake up

When Andrea Fountain says she's put her foot in it, she really means it. The 23-year-old wakeboarder is back in New Zealand recuperating after coming third in the World Wakeboarding Championships - a result gained despite having a sprained ankle and an infected wound in her foot from a stubborn splinter, both of them caused by a hurricane.

While the natural inclination is to wonder what she could have done if her foot had been functioning properly, her third placing is further evidence that she is, at worst, a world-class athlete in her sport and, at best, possibly New Zealand's next world champion.

Her rise in world rankings has been as rapid as it was improbable.

Although she has won several national titles she really went wakeboarding for fun. Only a surprise fourth placing at the 2003 world championships in Sydney woke her up to her wakeboarding potential and the fact that she might be able to leave the world's best in, well, her wake.

Fountain arrived home recently from her bronze medal in the international Water Ski Federation World championships in Spain in October to have the last vestiges of a troublesome splinter surgically removed and to recuperate before heading back to the sophisticated twists, tumbles and tricks that make up international wakeboarding.

Months before the Spain world championships, Fountain was based at Orlando's O Town wakeboarding camp in the United States when Florida's hurricane season struck with a vengeance. The camp was hit by four hurricanes. The worst ripped the roof off the main building, sank their boat and battered the dock. Later, as she walked on the damaged dock, Fountain collected a small, 2.5cm splinter in her foot.

It hurt. She thought she'd got the splinter out but some remained. Weeks later, and after operations in the US, she still had a sore foot and, although the doctors told her the foot was clear, it later transpired that a fragment of the splinter was still inside and was infecting the foot.

At this stage most people would go home and, well, put their feet up. Fountain, however, wanted to compete in Spain and took to the water twice - sore foot and all - to train. She injured herself further, spraining the ankle on the same foot.

She said: "My ankle was so weak from not riding and I had been walking funny on my foot - trying to protect it. But, because, of that, when I got back to the water, I guess it was weakened and I sprained my ankle."

However, not even then could Fountain be accused of dragging her feet.

"I'd already done a lot of work. I had ridden so much up until I hurt my foot so I knew that if I went to the worlds and focused psychologically, rather than actually having time on the water, I could put a decent pass together. I was a lot more confident [than Sydney 2003], but I hadn't ridden for two months."

She kept her injured ankle and wound quiet so no other competitors would gain an advantage.

"No one knew that I had hurt my foot. But I still wanted to show them that it was worth me being in America all season and what I had learned."

Fountain said it was a bizarre final where none of riders finished with a clean pass.

"I caught my back edge trying to pull off a 360 and ate it really bad. My foot twisted out of the binding and I smashed my ankle quite hard."

Fountain was third off the dock in the finals and was not at all happy with her effort. She thought she had no chance of a podium finish and did not watch her competition, retiring to the hut for a beer. While surprised by her third place, she says her experience of riding in Europe last year was a key to her success. Wakes vary around the globe and according to the type of boat being used and on the sea compared to a lake.

"The wake in Europe is big and really mellow," she said. "You have to ride to the very, very top of the wake to get any height, which puts a lot of people off."

In waiting longer on the wake, Fountain was able to increase the height and width of her tricks.

"I think that it's what it came down to. I may have fallen but the judges looked at my riding and they like the way I do things."

Now she is setting herself at the European tour in 2005 and will head back there when her foot has healed. "I love the Europeans. I can see why people get addicted to the lifestyle in Europe. You meet so many good friends and all you want to do is go back and see them."

It is also a realistic opportunity to be financially rewarded for her efforts. Championships are staged all over Europe, with prize money for the winner of each tournament ranging between 1000 to 1400 Euros for the winner.

"There is a really good chance to win money at the competitions and, compared to the States, there are six top girls who take all the money week in, week out," she said.

Professional wakeboarding in Europe is a world away from where it all began for Fountain, on the back of her parents' boat, riding for fun with her brother Craig, who taught her tricks. Her sporting upbringing in gymnastics and trampolining has also been instrumental in learning new aerial tricks.

"Being in the air becomes second nature, a lot of the time I don't know where I am but you just end up landing on your board.

"Like a cat always landing on their feet ... well, not exactly like a cat," she joked. "There are some times I don't hit my board at all."