One local woman is eager for August to get here. You see, she’s headed to Beijing and the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Carrie Johnson, 24, a senior at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), will be competing as a flat-water kayaker when the games commence early next month.
Johnson, who graduated in 2002 from La Jolla High School, started out as a gymnast but gave that up after she broke her arm 11 years ago. However, she didn’t want to stop playing sports, so she entered San Diego’s Junior Lifeguard program, where she discovered a passion for kayaking.
Lots of hard work and her love for kayaking will send her to China as a member of the U.S. squad, making this her second Olympics experience.
“My goal for the Games is to be on the podium (as a medal winner),” Johnson said before heading to Beijing. “To do that, I am going to have to be able to pull everything together and have the best race of my life on that day, in that moment.”
Asked if it was hard transitioning from being a gymnast to a kayaker, Johnson said no.
“I’ve got a lot of upper body and core strength from being a gymnast, and I also learned body awareness,” Johnson noted. “This made learning to make technical changes in paddling a little quicker.”
Johnson said a typical day of training for her has been being on the water for an hour to an hour and a half in the morning and then again in the afternoon.
“Three days a week we lift weights, and then on the others we have some form of cardio cross-training,” Johnson continued. “I usually do these workouts on the stationary bike. We have Thursdays and Sundays off for recovery. Several of my teammates are still training, and over the past three weeks a paddler from Sweden who is also racing in the Games has been training in San Diego, so there has been a good training group leading up to the Games.”
Johnson’s transition from gymnastics to kayaking was challenged when she was diagnosed in 2003 with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune condition that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. She had a major flare-up and had to sit out the 2003 world championships.
“Being forced to take time off the water really made me realize how much I wanted to be on the water,” Johnson said. “It gave me a new outlook on why I wanted to paddle.”
Johnson started taking medications and her condition stabilized. At age 20, she was the youngest member of the 2004 Olympic Kayaking Team.
“I wasn’t expected to be on the team,” Johnson said. “It was a surprise to a lot of people and to myself. It was an amazing experience. It is like the ultimate test for an athlete.”
Johnson, who majors in biochemistry at UCSD’s Revelle College, added that she didn’t expect to become a two-time Olympian by age 24.
“As a gymnast, going to the Olympics was a dream,” she said. “As a kayaker, it became a goal.”
Asked what it is like to represent her country, Johnson said, “I think it is very exciting that I am able to work towards my goals and at the same time have it be something so much bigger than myself. It has been awesome to have support from so many people. It is an honor to be able to represent the U.S. in the Games.”