Matthew Goble

Age 19
Sport Played Sprint Kayaking
Years Played 8 years

Tell us about yourself

My name is Matt Goble and my main competition sport is Sprint Kayaking, I compete at local, state, national and international events, and I train a lot, usually including 3 gym sessions and 8 on water paddling sessions as well as 2 cross training sessions a week. Local competitions start in spring and go through to the National Competition in autumn. International comps are usually in the northern Hemisphere summer, so I am competing most of the year. My hobbies are also water based, I enjoy playing canoe polo, surfing and sailing. Kayaking is not a high profile sport and I am keen to promote the sport to others, I coach the pupils of my old school two evenings a week, I enjoy working with younger people and helping them develop their skills. I am also active in my local surf lifesaving club and during this summer I have been involved in surf education to school groups. I have also helped with a kayaking program called Arrows that runs regular kayaking trips for people with a disability.

Proudest Sporting Achievements

I have recently competed at the Australian National Championships where I was competing against the best sprint kayakers in Australia, I finished 1st in the K1 200 and K2 200 races, gaining me automatic selection for World Cup and World Championships in Europe and Canada later this year, this was a great achievement for me winning against older paddlers who I have admired for a long time. My proudest moment was as a junior paddler representing Australia in the Junior Sprint Kayaking World Championships in 2007, where I won a Bronze Medal in the K1 500 event. It was a fantastic feeling standing on the podium in my Australian Uniform.

What are you hoping to achieve

My ultimate goal is to represent Australia in the 2012 Olympics in London and bring home a Gold Medal. I also want raise the sport of kayaking and I am keen to take any opportunity to promote Kayaking

How does LineBreak help

LineBreak compression products help to improve my performance, help me to recover faster, and control my body temperature helping to reduce the risk of injury.

My Blog

02/03/10
Here's a reproduction of a short article that was written at the end of last year in the Portside Messenger:

LARGS Bay kayaker Matthew Goble dreams of representing his country at the London Olympics in 2012 and his chances of qualifying for the event just got a whole lot better.

A decision by kayaking officials to shorten the distance of the individual sprint event from 500m to 200m at Olympic level has left the 20-year-old in the box seat to get Australia’s sole position in the competition.

``I’ve always been really fast over short distances,’’ Goble said.

``It definitely suits me better than the 500m and the 1000m.’’

Goble displayed all of his speed and power by winning gold at the national championships in the event in March.

He followed that up by winning a silver medal at a World Cup event in Hungary in June in his first outing for the senior national team.

``That was the moment when I really started believing I could do this.

``The guy that won (German Jonas Ems) was the 2007 world champ.’’

Standing in between Goble and an Olympic berth is Beijing K1 500m gold medallist Ken Wallace. Goble is yet to compete against Wallace over the 200m distance but is confident he has what it takes.

``I think I can get him. Over the 500m he’s known more as a big finisher rather than a strong starter like I am.’’

Goble received a boost on the eve of the local season when he was awarded a Sport of Australia Hall of Fame scholarship.

Under the program, which was introduced in 2006 to help young Australian athletes reach the highest levels in their sports, Goble will receive $5000 and mentoring support from dual Olympic rowing gold medallist Mike McKay.

``I met him on the night at the Sport of Australia awards, he’s obviously an Olympic legend being part of the Oarsome Foursome.

``If I ever need to speak to him about anything I can get in touch with him.’’

The decision to shorten the sprint events from 500m to 200m was ratified by the International Olympic Committee in September.

It is aimed at making the sport more spectator-friendly.
http://portside-messenger.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/a-stroke-of-luck/