Brett Heyl, spent his summer behind the scene in the whitewater community of Charlotte, North Carolina split between comfortably sitting on his couch watching the Olympics game on TV and occasionally training while his teammate and friend Scott Parson got to join the American team in the Chinese capital for the biggest event of all times.
Heyl took part to the Athens Olympics games in 2004 and quilified 7th in the slalom kayaking, but missed his spot on the Beijing games because he touch two gates during his last slalom run in the semifinal round of qualifications.
I drove to Charlotte to have the full story. Here is the documentary I made.