The olympic silver medallist kayaker Ben Fouhy will not race for New Zealand again after walking away from the sport for good.
The 31-year-old quit after becoming increasingly frustrated with SPARC, which funds the sport, and senior staff at Canoe Racing New Zealand who he feels were hampering his development and training.
Fouhy's campaign and performance manager Grant Restall says the double olympian returned to the sport in the hope of competing at the 2012 London Olympics, and was given the all clear to run his training programme independently from Canoe New Zealand and away from the over-bearing presence of Ian Ferguson.
However SPARC reneged their deal to fund Fouhy's campaign separately from Canoe New Zealand's funding, effectively forcing Fouhy to return to training under their umbrella.
Restall says the above factors as well as confusion surrounding who would race in the K1 category, the event in which Fouhy claimed silver at the Athens Olympics, and the media battering he's received in the past few months have made it impossible for him to enjoy racing and competing any longer.
Restall says Fouhy dreamed of competing in London but was ultimately 'ground down' by Ferguson, SPARC and Canoe New Zealand.
