Many people expected the end of the Danish paddler Rene Holten Poulsen when he lost funding two years ago from the Danish Canoe Federation.

He fought on instead, using his retirement funds and fundraising to make sure his kayaking swansong was at the Paris Olympics.

He is one of many who have shown great resilience in the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

He said that finishing the race with perfection would be an amazing dream.

Poulsen claims he doesn't know the reason he wasn't selected for the Danish national team. He only knows that his development was deemed insufficient. He did not accept that evaluation and chose to continue on his own.

He said: "I am a bit stubborn, and I don't want anyone to determine when or how I will retire." While he's proud of this stubbornness, the cost has been high.

My savings are all gone. "My savings are gone." Poulsen explained.

He was a well-known Danish figure who combined sponsorship with an online campaign and saved his money to go to Paris.

This kayak expert has done things differently. He invested his silver medal bonus in Beijing in a PR person who built up his profile and helped him gain more sponsors in Denmark.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

His Olympic journey seemed to be over after he finished sixth at Rio Games, and missed out on Tokyo. But, when his funding was reduced, he trained on his own, without a trainer, and qualified for Paris. This resulted to some of his support being reinstated before the Games.

Pouslen smiled wryly and said, "They supported me for the past three months (and then one month later, like everyone else) so that the last four were more comfortable or less uncomfortable."

After I got kicked out of the program, I began to learn about training at high altitudes from my cycling coach.

Poulsen will compete in his last Olympics at the Paris Games. He plans to switch to motivational speeches and coaching after the Games, but not before he takes one final shot to win an Olympic medal.

He will face Olympic Champion Balint Kopasz, and Australia's Tom Green in Saturday's first semi-final. Both are expected to take home medals.

He said, "It's the semi-finals of death. Both semis were really tough, but this was just bonkers. I have nothing to lose."

I want to go out my way. When you retire, it does not matter whether you are an Olympic champion. You want to move on and be happy with your accomplishments. Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Clare Fallon

(source: Reuters)