This Flat-Water Expert Doesn’t Want to Get Bumped : Kayaking: Costa Mesa’s Hamilton, who was on sidelines for 1988 Olympics, would fulfill lifelong dream by competing.

Mark Hamilton of Costa Mesa already is a two-time member of the U.S. Olympic kayak team, but this August he hopes to actually paddle for the United States in Barcelona.

Four years ago, he stood on the sidelines as an alternate on the 1988 U.S. Olympic kayak team.

This year, Hamilton has technically made the 10-member U.S. Olympic men’s kayak team by finishing with the 10th-fastest qualifying time in the singles competition.

But Hamilton, along with Chris Barlow of San Diego, Terry Kent of Rochester, N.Y., and Mike Herbert of Rogers, Ark., must defeat another U.S. kayak in a regatta July 11 at Lake Placid, N.Y., to earn the right to race at Barcelona.

“If we don’t defeat the other U.S. kayak, we’ll be designated non-participating members of the Olympic team,” Hamilton said recently from the Olympic training center in Lake Placid.

Hamilton and about 300 other U.S. Olympic athletes, including the entire canoe and kayak racing teams and the Greco-Roman wrestling team, are preparing in Lake Placid before leaving for the Barcelona Games.

In Barcelona, there will be different types of kayak races. Hamilton competes in the flat-water races, which are similar to the rowing races.

There are two types of white-water racing. In the slalom, competitors race through gates over a 600- to 800-meter course in the rapids. Wild-water racing is over a six- to eight-kilometer course without gates, and the competitor who finishes the course in the fastest time wins, Hamilton said.

Hamilton first watched white-water races at the ’72 Summer Games in Munich. Those were the first Olympic white-water kayak races, and they were also the last . . . or so Hamilton thought.

After racing in white-water kayak competitions for 10 years, Hamilton switched to flat-water racing in 1983.

“I knew I had to try flat water if I ever wanted to go to the Olympics,” Hamilton said.

But before he qualified for his second flat-water kayak Olympic team this year, guess which sport was reinstated for the ’92 Olympics?

“Two or three years ago, the International Olympic Committee announced that they were bringing back white-water racing to the Olympics in Barcelona,” Hamilton said. “But I had already put so much time into training for flat-water, it didn’t make sense to switch.

“Besides, I’m 6 feet 3, 185 pounds, so I create a lot of bottom drag,” he said. “The ideal white-water racers are the smaller, lighter, compact guys who are strong.”

That pragmatic attitude has helped push Hamilton to his Olympic status.

Back in Louisville, Ky., Hamilton was the No. 3 cross-country runner on his team, helping St. Xavier High win the State championship during his junior year.

Although he was a good distance runner, Hamilton knew he wasn’t good enough to reach the next level.

So he traded the running shoes for a paddle, and after graduating from Kentucky with a degree in English literature, he moved west to train at the Newport Aquatic Center.

The hard work paid off, and last summer’s results encouraged Hamilton. In August of 1991, he paddled his way to a seventh-place finish at the world championships in Paris and a fourth-place finish at the pre-Olympic regatta in Barcelona as a member of the 1,000-meter four-man kayak team.

“If we qualify for the Olympics, I think we have a chance to medal,” Hamilton said.

While the Olympics are a lifelong dream for Hamilton, he enjoys the recreational side of kayaking. He has taken trips down jungle rapids in Costa Rica, and also on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.

“It’s not a lot of fun when you’re in the really tough rapids and you’re solely trying to get through it in one piece,” Hamilton said. “I like the Grand Canyon because it’s almost like a different world.

“I’ve done the Grand Canyon twice, and it can be fairly intimidating. It’s not easy, but it’s a magical trip.”