London 2012 Olympics: Golden boy Tim Baillie overjoyed after ‘crazy’ win

ABERDEEN’S Tim Baillie became an ­Olympic gold medallist alongside Etienne Stott as Great Britain claimed gold and silver in the two-man canoe ­slalom in front of a jubilant home crowd.

The pair won gold in a time of 106.41 seconds, followed by Richard Hounslow and Baillie’s fellow Scot, David Florence, who registered a time of 106.77 seconds to claim silver.

It is Britain’s first ever gold in the canoe slalom, after Florence just missed out to Slovakia’s Michal Martikan in the individual C1 event in Beijing by a fraction of a second. The gold medal for Stott and Baillie was unexpected. The pairing missed out on most of last season after Stott dislocated his right shoulder in training.

Baillie said: “To win is mad and for these boys [Florence and Hounslow] to finish second... The run we had, I was hoping it might be good enough for a medal but I didn’t expect that.

“We just did our best, we didn’t do anything different. We have had plenty of experience over the last few days of dealing with such a loud crowd. It wasn’t a perfect run by any means but everything went just well enough. All the crews out there are really good. It’s a really hard course and we went down the fastest.”

He added: “I don’t think surreal really covers it. It’s crazy. I think I will bask in the happy, strange glow for a few days. Coming in we weren’t favourites or anything. The sport is so topsy turvy, we could have gone out in qualifying. You just never know. The course is only there for this race so when you are training, we had to prepare for every course you can imagine out there. It was just incredible.”

The British success meant despair for three-time Olympic champions, twin brothers Pavol and Peter Hochschorner of Slovakia, who took bronze.

Baillie and Stott were first to go in the final and set the fastest time of the day, roared on by a capacity crowd of British canoe fans. The biggest threat to their time came from the Slovakian twins, who had won gold in Sydney, Athens and Beijing, but they hit a gate and in the end finished outside the British crew’s time.

As Hounslow and Florence were last to run in the final, that guaranteed Britain a gold medal. The only question was whether they could beat their compatriots’ time. They made the perfect start and were ahead at the first split, but coming out of the last gate they could not stay ahead of Baillie and Stott and lost out on gold by 0.36 seconds.

After two disappointing days at the Lee Valley white water course, where Britain had failed to reach the individual finals, there were scenes of joy as the victorious team jumped in the water to celebrate.

Stott added: “It’s weird. It could have been a disaster and now it’s a dream. We did feel the pressure but I thought we needed something to go right today. There is nothing taken for granted in this sport and getting to the final was amazing.”

Stott, 33, from Bedford, added: “The way we prepared for this race is that we just wanted to do a good honest graft on each run, to do the gates as best we could. Getting into the final was a dream. We were just waiting, having done our run. We got fifth place, then fourth, and then we had a medal. The Hochschorners went behind us – the best slalom athletes ever – and then Dave and Rich came down, blazing at it. We know they are a fast crew, they beat us all the time in training, and they come in behind as well. It’s a great script for Great Britain and it’s a great script for canoeing.”

Stott, 33, punched the air and jumped on the podium just before the pairing were presented with their gold medals before he and Baillie turned to salute the crowd. The crowd of 12,000 then sang the national anthem as two Union Flags were hoisted.

Baillie was an early starter when it came to kayaking. He began paddling when he was just four years old, encouraged by his parents, both keen canoeists with Aberdeen Kayak Club. Derek Thompson, the head teacher at Westhill Academy, his old school, expressed his joy at their old boy’s achievement.

“Staff and pupils at Westhill Academy are very proud of what Tim has achieved,” he said. “We were all very pleased when we heard he had been picked for the Olympic team and are now delighted at the news that his hard work and dedication have been rewarded with a gold medal. It is a fantastic personal achievement for him, and I hope it will also act as inspiration for others at the school.”

After school, he moved south to attend Nottingham University, where he was also able to train at the National Water Sports Centre. Until the age of 23 he raced in the men’s individual kayak category, notching British junior and U-23 titles and securing a top ten place in the Junior World Championships. But then he decided it was time to double up. Ahead of the Olympics, he said he had made the shift because he was unhappy with the impact he was making on the international circuit.