It isn’t every day one can say they have returned from Uzbekistan with a lucrative water sports qualification under their belt.
But it is a boast that Louise Greenwood, who visited the central Asian nation in August, can make loud and proud.
Facilitated by the International Canoe Federation, the course saw trainees shadowing officials at the 2024 Canoe Sprint World Championships in the country’s capital, Samarkand.
Having passed her exams, Louise is now one of only eight technical officers in Australia qualified to officiate international canoe competitions.
A stalwart of the Cobram Barooga Canoe Club, Louise sits on the Paddle Victoria Sprint Committee and the Paddle Victoria Marathon Committee.
She was also recognised as Paddle Victoria’s Volunteer of the Year 2023.
“The people over there were welcoming,” Louise said of her time overseas.
“There weren’t very many tourists there. It was a very out-of-the-way place, but certainly somewhere worth visiting — so different to Australia.”
Louise participated in the program alongside two other trainees from Australia.
She said her favourite role while officiating canoe competitions was race starter.
“You’re right in on the action,” she said.
“It all comes down to you — you are calling the boats to their race, you call them into their lanes, and you’re controlling the start.
“It’s an exciting, involved role.”
Louise hopes to officiate at future Olympic and Paralympic canoe competitions, with her mentor Mark Bulmer officiating at this year’s Paralympic canoe event in Paris.
“I’d love to, absolutely love to [officiate at an Olympics or Paralympics],” she said.
“That is the aim — the Olympics or the Paralympics.
“Hearing Mark doing it was just fantastic, so exciting for him because he’d been working towards that for a while.”