It is a long way from the small southern French village of Pau to Penrith, in Sydney's west.
But that is the river French-born canoer Lucien Delfour has paddled en route to his first Olympic Games in Rio.
Delfour is using French know-how on the rapids to do his adopted country, Australia, proud.
Waves of white water rush through turbulent eddies and up to 25 gate markers at the Penrith White Water Stadium.
It is the best artificial facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
For Olympic canoer Lucien Delfour, the 300-metre, U-shaped course represents heart-pumping, adrenalin-fuelled aquatic mayhem.
But he says it was not love at first sight when his father introduced him to the sport as a young boy in his native France.
"Didn't like it at all. I hated it. I even stopped for about two to three months. Eventually, he got me back into a kayak, a slalom boat this time."
Luckily for Delfour, he stuck at it.
After a strong 2015 season, he ended the year at number three in the K1, or one-person kayaking, world rankings.
But qualifying for Rio was not so straightforward.
The 27-year-old almost failed to progress past the semifinals at the Oceania Championships.
"I was ninth, and there were three more paddlers to go, so I knew that was it. Luckily enough, they stuffed up. So I got into the final and then stuffed up again, a little. But, fortunately, my raw time was really fast, so that's how I got in."
Now, a new challenge awaits in Rio: representing his adopted country.
Delfour first visited Australia in 2007 with the French junior canoe team and moved to Australia full-time in 2010.
Almost 10 years later, he has officially shed the French tricolour in favour of the green and gold, becoming an Australian citizen in 2014.
"High hopes for Lucien for Rio, and, Lucien, it gives me very great pleasure to present you with your Qantas boarding pass."
That was Kitty Chiller, the chef de mission for Australia's Rio Games team, officially announcing the Olympic Canoe Slalom team.
Delfour says, once he touched down in Australia as a junior paddler, he knew it was where he wanted to establish himself and compete at the highest level.
"I wanted to race for Australia. This is the place to be. This isn't France. This is ... I need to be here in Australia."
French is perhaps not what you would expect to hear at training in western Sydney.
But that is the sound of Delfour's coach, Julien Billaut, standing by the Penrith white-water course instructing his student.
Billaut, also a French native, is a former K1 world champion himself.
He says their French connection is strengthening Delfour's Australian Olympic dream.
"This is a challenge for me as a coach, because I deal with Lucien in French and the others are Australian. But Lucien's Australian as well, but with this French culture, so it's a bit of a game. And, yes, it's hard, but I think I'm doing a good job here."
Delfour says the toughest competition in Rio will come from his European opponents but he is aiming for a podium finish nonetheless.
That is, if he can overcome his greatest fear.
"Well, we'll just do some runs on the course, and, suddenly, there's something jumping on our feet. And then, yeah ... it's frogs. It's quite scary and quite disgusting, so I hate it. So ... "
Share
