Thomas Hall (canoer)

Thomas Hall (born February 21, 1982) is an Olympic canoer from Canada. Born in Montreal, but hailing from Pointe Claire, Quebec, Hall is part of a water sport family that includes a mother who was an international kayaker and a sister who is a competitive canoer. He began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000m event at the Junior World Championships. At the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. At the Beijing Olympic Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event. As of 2008, he is a student at McGill University, pursuing a degree in physical education.

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Early life and biography

Hall was born in Montreal, Quebec. His mother was a kayaker who had competed in the North American championships in her sport. His sister is a competitive canoer as well and Steve Giles, Attila Buday and Tamas Buday Jr. are among his role models. He claims that J. R. R. Tolkien is a "key influence" for him and he re-reads "The Lord of the Rings" every year.cite news|title = Thomas Hall|work = Athlete Profiles|publisher = CanoeKayakCanada|date = 2008|url = http://www.canoekayak.ca/Athlete-Profiles/eng/Thomas-Hall/|accessdate = 2008-08-23] As of 2008, he is a physical education student at McGill University. After joining the Pointe Claire Canoe Club, his first major victory was the Junior World Championships in August 1999 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he placed first in the C-1 1000m event. Earlier that month, he had placed fifth in the C-1 20 km event at the Marathon Junior Cup in Hungary.

International competition

Beginning in 2000, Hall began competing in an increasing amount of international tournaments. In June 2000, at the Bochum International Regatta in Bochum, Germany, he took second, third and fifth place in the junior C-2 1000m, C-4 500m and C-1 1000m events respectively. In August of that year, he finished second in the junior C-1 1000m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, New York.

Beginning with a first place finish in the C-4 M 1000m event at the World Cup in Paris, France, he acquired a total of six medal over the course of 2001, including first in the C-1 JrM 1000m event at Canadian Sprint Canoe Championships in Lac-Beauport, Quebec. In August 2002, he had a second place finish in the C-4 1000m event at the same tournament in Minnedosa, Manitoba. That same year, he also took third place in the junior C-1 500m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, and in the C-2 1000m event at the Pan American Canoe Championships in Curitiba, Brazil. In August 2003, he came in first in the C-1 1000m event and third in the C-1 500m event at the Pan American Games that were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

After a third place finish at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal, he earned seven additional top three finishes in 2004, including wins in the C-4 1000m event at the World Cup in Račice, Czech Republic and the Junior C-1 500m event at the Canadian Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. In 2005, he placed first in the C-1 500m event and second in the C-1 1000m national team selection trials in Montreal. At that year's Canadian Championships, also held in Montreal, he placed second in the C-1 1000m event. In 2006, he placed second and third in the C-1 500m and C-1 1000m events respectively at the National Team Trials in Lake Lanier, Georgia. That year, at the ICF World Cup in Duisburg, Germany, he placed first in the C-1 4 x 200m event and finished the year a second place finish in the C-4 1000m event at the Senior World Championships in Szeged, Hungary.

After five international top three finishes in 2007, he acquired an additional eight top three finishes in 2008 before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Included among these were first place finishes in events at the Continental Olympic Qualifier and the National Team Trials in Montreal and the IFC World Cup in Duisburg and Poznań, Poland. He won a bronze medal in the C-1 1000 metres event at the Olympic Games in the Shunji Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, finishing half a second ahead of Vadim Menkov of Uzbekistan with a time of 3:53.653, but behind Attila Vajda of Hungary and David Cal of Spain.cite news|title = Thomas Hall wins medal, Adam van Koeverden doesn't in kayaking shocker|work = Sports|publisher = CBC|date = 2008-08-22|url = http://www.cbc.ca/cp/sports/080822/s082251A.html|accessdate = 2008-08-22] He credited his victory to "a sea change in [...] life"cite news|last = Vanstone|first = Rob|title = Hall takes bronze in solo canoe|work = News|publisher = National Post|date = 2008-08-22|url = http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=741695|accessdate = 2008-08-22] beginning in January, as well as a closer bond with his coach, Robert Creamer.

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