Olympic Run Ends For Darnestown Native

Local kayaker Caroline Queen's quest for an Olympic medal ended today with a 17th place finish in the Women's K1 event.

The Darnestown native earned her place in the 2012 London Summer Olympics by besting teammate Ashley Nee by 1.06 seconds during the June 9 World Cup in Cardiff Wales.

At the London games, however, Queen was penalized two seconds for touching Gate 1, and nearly missed the next-to-last gate (No. 21), ultimately paddling back to successfully pass through, much to the delight of the assembled crowd of more than 8,000 spectators.

In a statement by the US Kayak/Canoe organization, Queen was quoted as saying, “For me, sport is a lot about heart, and that was a heart moment," when asked about paddling back to avoid missing the 21st gate.

Her coach Silvan Poberaj offered Queen encouragement, stating “Olympics are an experience that’s different from anything else and it can be very helpful if she takes the right conclusions out of this competition and makes a plan for how to go from here and not make the same mistakes and to improve.”

Highlights of the Women’s K1 event will air at 12:50 am EST on Tuesday, July 31.