EKAITZ SAIES

I’m incredibly proud of what we achieved at the Paddle Games last weekend. We took the sport to where people are – instead of asking people to come and watch it. We built a format that put our amazing paddlers at the heart of the action. They are the true ambassadors of our sport –…

Leadership is not a rank, but acting on what is required in any given moment. It is having skin in the game. As a former international paddler, I could see that the conditions yesterday were not optimal for racing. On Saturday, I spoke to a member of the competition committee and asked them to be…

Many years ago, my parents gave me a copy of Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography as soon as it was released in Spanish. I had been a Mac and Apple user and always loved their products, but didn’t know much about Jobs’ story at the time. That book would shape a great deal of how I understand…

When I stepped away from competitive sport twelve years ago, I was at peace. I had lived a life that many dream of, travelling the world, pushing the limits of my body and mind, competing at the highest level. I had achieved many of the goals I had set as a young athlete, though not…

Yesterday, I found myself at the edge of the Thames in Henley-on-Thames, a curious observer at the Henley Royal Regatta, that gilded stalwart of the British summer season. First held in 1839 (a year after Queen Victoria ascended the throne), the event has become a postcard of old England: rowing boats slicing through the water,…