By STEVE BEZANSON -- The Halifax Herald
  Everyone has a dream, but not everyone gets to live it.

 "I'm happy with the way things are going right now because I'm following my dream," said kayaker Karen Furneaux of Waverley, who last weekend became the first Nova Scotian to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

 "I'm really positive, training is going well and the goal is to keep getting faster, keep improving and keep winning."

 Winning is something that has become second nature to Furneaux, who at the age of 23 has become the province's most accomplished female paddler.

 At the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg last July, she was a double gold medallist (K-1 and K-4 500 metres) and followed that effort by winning a silver medal (K-2 500 metres) at the world championships in Hungary in August.

 For Furneaux, a Cheema Aquatic Club product, last summer's achievements were a culmination of six years of intense effort.

 "I would definitely say I'm driven," said Furneaux, who earned her Olympic berth in Australia by capturing the K-2 500 metres with Caroline Brunet of Lac-Beauport, Que., at a qualifying race on Lake Lanier in Georgia.

 "I've always loved improving, measuring myself on the water every day, always had a desire to be better."

 The turning point for Furneaux, a Dalhousie Kinesiology honours graduate, came seven years ago.

 "Probably in 1993, when I was a junior, my first experience racing in the national team trials. I ended up coming second, just out of nowhere," said Furneaux, who initially was exposed to the sport as a 12-year-old. "I didn't expect to make the junior world team and then all of a sudden I'd made it.

 "I knew with the little bit of hard work I'd done that year that anything was possible. It was at those junior worlds that I was the stroke for the K-2 and K-4 and I knew right away that was what I was meant to do. I was meant to be a paddler."

 What many would deem a painful and repetitious exercise has become a labour of love for Furneaux.

 "There's no feeling like it in the morning," said Furneaux, who trains six hours a day. "Paddling at 6 a.m., seeing the sun rise and the fog lift off the water, it's just beautiful.

 "I have this special feeling when I come off the water and I know I've worked really hard and made that improvement day-by-day."

 Her paddling exploits have also given Furneaux an interesting perspective on life.

 "I think sport is so good because it lets you see who people really are, what they are made of," said Furneaux, who journeys to Norway on Wednesday to begin the final phase of her Olympic preparation.

 "There's no way you hide your personality in sports. It really comes through."

 While she eventually hopes to earn a master's degree in exercise physiology and then study medicine, Furneaux is in no hurry to give up her paddling career.

 "I'm doing what I love and I still feel like I'm improving in a lot of areas," said Furneaux. "In kayaking you don't reach your peak until your late 20's. So I definitely want to keep going towards Athens (2004 Olympics) and hopefully I'll be there."

 No doubt the future will take care of itself but for now Furneaux's focus is Sydney.

 "We were very close to winning last summer so we know it's within our grasp this year," said Furneaux.

 "We definitely want to go there and win. We're going for our best-ever race and I know if we can have our best race, our best training and be as fast as we can be, we can win."