Tokyo 2020: Northern beaches kayaker Kailey Harlen’s Olympic bid
It rates as one of the most unflattering nicknames in sport but it’s part of the reason this young athlete is now having a crack at making the Tokyo Olympics.
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Sydney teenager Kailey Harlen never thought for a second she would one day end up as a rising star of kayaking.
She had no idea what the sport even was and far preferred watching athletics and swimming on the TV while playing a variety of sports including touch and basketball.
And it was in this latter sport she earned an unusual moniker for a physical trait that has turned out to be her strength in kayaking.
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“When I started paddling they said your arms are ridiculously long, you are tall, you are broad. That’s good,” said Harlen, who lives and Freshwater and is with the Sydney Northern Beaches Kayak Club at Narrabeen.
“My nickname in basketball was orangatang because of my arms.
“I kept getting fouled off. I’ve got rid of that nickname now and my reach is an advantage to catch the water in kayaking.”
Harlen, on the comeback from a broken arm sustained when she fell off a bike last year, has recently made the Australian team for the world under 23 championships.
But she has aspirations of also cracking her first Olympic team with a strong performance at an upcoming selection event at the Penrith Regatta Centre.
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The 18-year-old, a member of the Queenscliffe Surf Life Saving Club, won every junior event at the 2019 Canoe Sprint national championships last year before paddling her way into the open women’s K1 500 A final.
Harlen is racing with fellow Sydney up-and-comer Ella Beere with the pair outside changes for Tokyo.
“It was never part of the plan, 2020,” she said. “We were always going for 2024.
“It’s quite a shock to the system being just 18 but this is an awesome opportunity.”
The final part of they Olympic selection process for paddlers is the March 11-15 Canoe Sprint national championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
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