Thomas Hall (canoeist)

Last updated
Thomas Hall
Medal record
Representing Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Men's canoe sprint
Olympic Games
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2008 Beijing C-1 1000 m
World Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2006 Szeged C-4 1000 m
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2003 Santo Domingo C-1 1000m
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2003 Santo Domingo C-2 500m

Thomas Hall, OLY (born February 21, 1982) is an Olympic sprint canoeist from Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada. Training with the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, he began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships. By the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. At the Beijing Olympic Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event.

Contents

Early life and biography

Born in Montreal, he grew up in suburban Pointe-Claire. His mother had competed in the North American kayak championships. His sister is a competitive kayaker as well, while his brother James is a musician in The Sam Roberts Band. [1] For Thomas Steve Giles, Attila Buday Tamas Buday Jr. and Andreas Dittmer are among his role models. He also claims that J. R. R. Tolkien was a "key influence" for him growing up and he re-read The Lord of the Rings every year for a number of years. [2] As of 2008, he was a physical education student at McGill University and, as of 2011 he was studying business at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, although still living in Montreal.

International competition

After joining the Pointe Claire Canoe Club, his first major international victory was the Junior World Championships in August 1999 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he placed first in the C-1 1000 m event. Earlier that month he had placed fifth in the C-1 20 km event at the Marathon Junior Cup in Hungary. [2] Beginning in 2000 Hall began competing in an increasing amount of international tournaments. In June 2000, at the Bochum International Regatta in Bochum, Germany, he took second, third and fifth place in the junior C-2 1000 m, C-4 500 m and C-1 1000 m events respectively. In August of that year, he finished second in the junior C-1 1000 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, New York. [2]

Beginning with a first-place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the World Cup in Paris, France, he acquired a total of six medals over the course of 2001, including first in the C-1 JrM 1000 m event at Canadian Sprint Canoe Championships in Lac-Beauport, Quebec. In August 2002, he had a second-place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the same tournament in Minnedosa, Manitoba. That same year, he also took third place in the junior C-1 500 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, and in the C-2 1000 m event at the Pan American Canoe Championships in Curitiba, Brazil. In August 2003, he came in first in the C-1 1000 m event and third in the C-1 500 m event at the Pan American Games that were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. [2]

After a third-place finish at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal, he earned seven additional top three finishes in 2004, including wins in the C-4 1000 m event at the World Cup in Račice, Czech Republic and the Junior C-1 500 m event at the Canadian Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In 2005, he placed first in the C-1 500 m event and second in the C-1 1000 m national team selection trials in Montreal. At that year's Canadian Championships, also held in Montreal, he placed second in the C-1 1000 m event. In 2006, he placed second and third in the C-1 500 m and C-1 1000 m events respectively at the National Team Trials in Lake Lanier, Georgia. That year, at the ICF World Cup in Duisburg, Germany, he placed first in the C-1 4 × 200 m event and ended the year with a second-place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the Senior World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. [2]

After five international top three finishes in 2007, he acquired an additional eight top three finishes in 2008 before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Included among these were first-place finishes in events at the Continental Olympic Qualifier and the National Team Trials in Montreal and the IFC World Cup in Duisburg and Poznań, Poland. [2] The win in Poland solidified his winning of the 2008 overall World Cup Champion in the Canoe Discipline. He is the first Canadian to win this title. He then went on to win a bronze medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Olympic Games in the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, finishing half a second ahead of Vadim Menkov of Uzbekistan with a time of 3:53.653, but behind Attila Vajda of Hungary and David Cal of Spain. [3] He credited his victory to "a sea change in [...] life" [4] beginning in January, as well as a closer bond with his coach, Michael Creamer. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam van Koeverden</span> Canadian kayaker and politician (born 1982)

Adam Joseph van Koeverden is a Canadian sprint kayaker and politician. He is an Olympic gold medallist in the K-1 500m category (2004) and a two-time world champion in K-1 500 (2007) and K-1 1000 (2011), winning four Olympic and eight world championship medals. His home club is the Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville, Ontario.

Attila Buday is a Hungarian-born Canadian sprint canoer who competed from 1996 to 2006. He won three silver medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships

Tamás Buday Jr. is a Hungarian-born Canadian sprint canoer who competed from 1996 to 2006. He won three silver medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. Buday was born in Budapest, Hungary.

Mylanie Barré is a Canadian sprint kayaker who has competed since the mid-2000s. She won a bronze medal in the K-2 1000 m event at the 2003 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Gainesville.

Martin Marinov is a Bulgarian-born Australian flatwater canoeist who competed from the late 1980s and the mid-2000s (decade). A former "Mr Bulgaria" he won two Olympic medals for that country in the Canadian canoeing 500 m events. Married for Darina Marinova from 07.05.1989. Kids: Georgi Marinov 08.05.1992 and Maria-Veronika Marinova 14.04.1997. Grandkids: Martin Marinov 27.01.2020

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprint canoe</span> Racing boat with 1, 2 or 4 paddlers

A sprint canoe is a canoe used in International Canoe Federation canoe sprint. It is an open boat propelled by one, two or four paddlers from a kneeling position, using single-bladed paddles. The difficulty of balance can depend on how wide or narrow the canoe is, although regularly the less contact a canoe has with the water the faster it goes. This makes the narrower boats much faster and popular when it comes to racing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">György Kolonics</span> Hungarian canoeist (1972–2008)

György "Kolo" Kolonics was a Hungarian sprint canoeist who won two gold and two bronze medals at four Summer Olympics. He also won a record fifteen gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. He died from cardiac arrest while preparing for his fifth Olympics.

The 2005 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Zagreb, Croatia, in August 2005.

Ledis Frank Balceiro Pajon is a Cuban sprint canoeist who competed from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Brabants</span> British sprint kayaker

Jules Timothy Brabants MBE is a British sprint kayaker who has competed since the late 1990s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won three medals with one gold and two bronzes.

The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two top-tier Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation. They are usually held every non-Olympic year and have officially included paracanoe events since 2010; paracanoe-specific editions of this event are usually held in Summer Paralympic years.

Maksym Serhiyovych Prokopenko is a Ukrainian-born Azerbaijani sprint canoeist who has competed since 2002.

Hugh Fisher, is a New Zealand-born Canadian sprint kayaker who competed from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s. He participated in three Summer Olympics: in 1976 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; in 1984 in Los Angeles; and in 1988 in Seoul, Korea. He was also named to the 1980 Olympic team for Canada, but did not compete due to the Canadian boycott of those Games. At the 1984 Games with his racing partner Alwyn Morris, he won two medals, a gold in the K-2 1000 m and a bronze in the K-2 500 m events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships</span> ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships 2009 in Nova Scotia

The 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 12–16 August 2009 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Lake Banook. The competition was organized by the International Canoe Federation (ICF). The Canadian city was selected to host the championships in October 2003 after having done so previously in 1997. Final preparations were made after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with competition format changed for the first time since the 2001 championships. Four exhibition events for both paddleability and women's canoe were added. Sponsorship was local within the province of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Regional Municipality. Media coverage was provided from Canada, Europe and the United States on the Internet, television and mobile phone. 669 canoeists from 68 nations participated at the championships themselves.

John Joseph Wood was a Canadian sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1960s to the later 1970s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the silver medal in the C-1 500 m event at Montreal in 1976. The medal was Canada's first in the sport since 1952.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tamás Buday</span>

Tamás Buday is a Canadian sprint canoe coach and retired Hungarian canoe sprinter. He competed in doubles at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and won two bronze medals in 1976. From 1978 to 1983, he also won thirteen medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with four gold, five silvers, and four bronzes.

Maxime Boilard is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed from the mid-1990s through 2004. He was born in Quebec City, Quebec. His career highlight was a fourth-place finish in the C-1 500 m event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He also won two silver medals in the C-4 1000 m event at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in 2002 and 2003. He was a silver medalist in the C-2 500 m event at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.

Renn Crichlow is a Canadian sprint kayaker who competed from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. He won a complete set of medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with gold, a silver, and a bronze.

Michelle Russell is a Canadian sprint kayaker.

Ian Gaudet is a Canadian male sprint kayaker. His home club is Banook Canoe Club on Lake Banook in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

References

  1. Schaults, Janine (2011-05-31). "Interview: Sam Roberts Band". Illinois Entertainer. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Thomas Hall". Athlete Profiles. CanoeKayakCanada. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-01-11. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
  3. Gjerde, Arild; Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon; Hilary Evans (2012). "Thomas Hall Biography and Olympic Results". Olympics. Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
  4. 1 2 Vanstone, Rob (2008-08-22). "Hall takes bronze in solo canoe". News. National Post . Retrieved 2008-08-22.