Sunsets around in Al-'Ayn are fantastic. The sun warms you all day, then you see it at eye level changing its shape as it goes down: It becomes enormous. The colours are unique and lovable. When it has surely given you the last breathe of the day, it hides behind the dunes whose shapes are changed each day by the wind. Another day has gone by, another important day in each one of our lives, another day to be remembered. Just as the wind remodels the mounds in the dessert, the stories in our lives change our characters, our personalities and our characteristics. Lovely and fascinating stories, like the one that has just finished for Eoin Rheinisch.
He won’t wear a bib on his chest for racing anymore, but he will work with young people. His story began by copying his older brothers and, as always happens, he began dreaming of glorious victories playing with gates, currents, waves and loops every day. Then, very early on, the slalom for the Irishman, born in Dublin, and proud it his heritage, became a real way of life for many years. There are people, places, moments and situations that change the paths of our lives, and one of these people in my mine is this particular athlete. I spent two intense years with him working on technical improvements together, he the athlete and me the coach as Rheinisch always calls me, we tried to bring out the best in both of us. What we did aboveall, was to find a way of adapting ourselves to the slalom that has changed enormously since it started. It wasn’t easy for an athlete who had already reached high levels to start all over again. The first thing to do was to change the type of canoe and we then tried to change his style. Then we had to accept certain physical problems that unfortunately made a difference. However, Eoin has always fought back with great force and never given up in spite of the problems, showing his fighting spirit right up until this moment. In spite of the Olympics that took a wrong turning right at the last minute, the tail of the canoe that "pitched on a silver dollar on the bed" of Sand Creek as De Andrè (a famous italian poet and songer) would have said, Eoin wanted to paddle through another season knowing that it wouldn’t have been an easy one. And it was just then, paddling with a clear mind and with a love that had just surfaced that he found the energy and force to end his career. It is never easy for an athlete who has nourished himself with years of daily training, to decide to change his way of life. But I believe that this Irishman must now transit all his experience to the young people of the Emerald Isle, as well as thinking about working for the International Federation at the same time.
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on the left Eoin with his great friend Huw Swetnam, on the right Eoin with
Sander (owner of Double Dutch Paddles) and in the center Eoin's brother |
However, only God will know about Eoin’s future and I can only thank Him for letting me meet him and it only remains for me to heartily thank Eoin for everything he has given us and... "in bocca al lupo" and the very best for the future.
Occhio all'onda!
traslated by Teresa Bourges
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