While there have been lots of positives for de Jonge over the last five years in the wake of his Rio disappointment, the family suffered a devastating blow last September when his older sister, Carlin, was left paralyzed below the arms with limited use of her hands following a cycling accident in Calgary.
WATCH | The Olympians: Laurence Vincent-Lapointeĭuration 4:51 The Canadian kayaker turned politician recalls fond memories from the 20 Olympic Games. She'll also be looking to finish in the medals in the C-2 at 500 metres with partner Katie Vincent of Mississauga, Ont., who's also in the shorter individual competition. Laurence Vincent-Lapointe of Trois-Rivieres, Que., is a former world champion in the sprint and one of the favourites in the C-1 200-metre race. The men's K-4 is hopeful of challenging for the podium in Japan's capital, but the best chance for Canoe Kayak Canada, which was shut out in Rio, likely lies in the women's canoe, which is set to make its Olympic debut. "But we have a common thing to talk about, which is being on the water.
Things also changed on the water, where he eventually moved from the solo K-1 to a K-4 500-metre boat with Toronto's Nicholas Matveev, Pierre-Luc Poulin of Lac-Beauport, Que., and Simon McTavish of Oakville, Ont., who range in age from 23 to 25.ĭespite the generation gap, de Jonge made it clear the crew, which qualified for Tokyo in an Olympic trial race-off this spring, works well together. "It distilled that downtime a little bit." 'You definitely feel old' says now three-time Olympian "It was fun," he said of his new business.
"I kept doing really well on the world stage," he said. The 37-year-old believes it's impossible to know for sure, but the best guess was his constant push to get better every year - de Jonge is known for his near-constant tweaking of both his stroke and equipment - after his bronze in London wore him down physically and mentally. "We had a big debrief to see what happened and how we could improve." "We definitely picked it apart," de Jonge said. The questions started almost immediately. Canadian kayaker Mark de Jonge said at the time that internal debates within Canoe Kayak Canada bothered him leading up to 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.