At the age of 57 in Rio, Lesley Thompson firmly led the Canadian 8 + rudder.

If in London 2012 the Italian piragüist Josefa Idem Guerrini became the first and only woman to compete on eight Olympic dates, in Rio 2016 he has been equated by Georgian gunman Nino Salukvadze and Canadian timeman Lesley Thompson. They're both stories worth telling. I will start with the Canadian who, by expanding its legend, already adds as many Olympic participations as the T-shirts drive as a tymonel. Lesley Thompson is the only rooster who has competed in eight Olympic Games and, since London 2012, is also the first and only Canadian sportsman who has won a medal in five different games. The first medal, on August 4, 1988, was made of silver in 4 with timonel and, almost twenty-four years later, on August 2, 2012, he achieved the fifth, another silver, this time leading the eight with timonel.

With the exception of the Athens parenthesis, he temporarily retired after Sydney 2000 until his return in 2006, this small, large woman of 1.60m high and barely weighs 50 kg, who was an athlete and gymnast, has guided the Canadian eight as a tymonel since 1980 and the balance cannot be more positive: five Olympic medals and ten medals in the world championships (1) in which he has competed until 19 times. The star moment was no doubt the "eight with" Canadian at the front that in 1991 won the world title and, months later, the Olympic gold in Barcelona 1992. His long experience gives him a vital influence on the crew because, in fact, it's like the coach is at the helm. It has been said that "it is a mixture between a rider of pure blood and a field marshal" to define his accused personality and the positive mix of his dynamism and determination with his great technical concordances.

Lesley Allison Thompson eight JJ.OO. at the helm
The anecdote that marked his return to the team in 2006 is curious. It is said that everything came from a distended conversation with the Canadian rowing selector, Al Morrow, in which Leslie joked about going to the 2008 Small Games; he said, "Really? If so, you can already start training." And Lesley took the rudder again and went to Pequin from where he returned with the bitter regulation of a fourth place only 79 hundred from the bronze. In London he took a rematch, came his fifth medal, a silver that seemed the best of the scenarios for his final goodbye. However, far from confirming it, he announced his intention to continue to be linked to the Canadian rowing in the task in which it could be more useful to him, and that task was only to remain at the head of the eight Canadian in his eighth Olympic Games (2).

(1) The last one, a bronze medal at the helm of the eight Canadian in the 2015 World Cup
(2) In Rio 2016, Canada obtained Olympic diploma at the end of the fifth place of the Olympic final in which it fought with New Zealand and Rumans for bronze.

Text: Juan Manuel Surroco
Blog: http: / / elmargadordejmsurrop.blogspot.com.es /
Twitter: @ SurrocaJM