London 2012 Games
Key facts
Venue: Eton Dorney
Dates: Monday 6 – Saturday 11 August
Medal events: 12
Athletes: 248
The histories of the canoe and the kayak go back hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 19th century that the first official canoe and kayak races were held. The sport now takes two forms, the oldest of which is the power-packed, fiercely competitive Canoe Sprint discipline.
The basics
Canoe Sprint events are head-to-head races conducted on still water, as opposed to the white water time trials of the Canoe Slalom competition. Athletes race over distances of 200m, 500m or 1,000m, either solo, in pairs or in teams of four. Athletes use a single-bladed paddle from a kneeling position in canoes, which are steered by the athlete making corrective strokes with their paddle. In kayaks, which are steered using a small rudder, the competitors sit in the boat and use a paddle with two blades.
Olympic Canoe Sprint, past and present
Canoeing first featured as a demonstration sport at the 1924 Paris Games. It became a full Olympic sport in 1936, when races were held over of 1,000m and 10,000m. Since then, the Olympic events have grown shorter: the last long-distance events were held at the Melbourne Games of 1956.
For London 2012, the Canoe Sprint competition will be held at Eton Dorney, one of the best still-water courses in the world with a wonderful location close to Windsor Castle. Races will be held over distances of 1,000m, 500m and, for the first time at the Games, 200m: with the fastest races taking just 30 seconds to complete, it’s bound to be very popular with spectators and athletes alike.
Jargon buster
Bow: The front of the craft.
Stern: The rear of the craft.
Paddler: A canoeist.
Start gate: The yellow metal ‘boot’ in which the bow of the boat sits before the start of a race.
Stroke rate: The number of paddle strokes per minute.
Wing paddle: A paddle with a curved, almost spoon-shaped blade.
Download Construction Eton Dorney (PDF)

IMPORTANT NOTE - These are the athletes that nominated for London 2012 or earned the right to be nominated.
ANG |
Fortunato Pacavira (C2 1000), Nelson Henriques (C2 1000) | |||
AUS |
Alana Nicholls (WK1 200 and 500), Alexander Haas (C2 1000), David Smith (K4 1000), Hannah Davis (WK4 500), Jacob Clear (K4 1000), Jake Donaghey (C1 1000, C2 1000), Jesse Phillips (K2 200), Jo Brigden-Jones (WK4 500), Ken Wallace (K2 1000), Lyndsie Fogarty (WK2 and K4 500), Murray Stewart (K1, K2 & K4 1000, K1 200), Naomi Flood (WK2 500), Rachel Lovell (WK4 500), Sebastian Marczak (C1 200), Stephen Bird (K2 200), Tate Smith (K4 1000) | |||
BEL |
Maxime Richard (K1 200), Laurens Pannecoucke (K2 1000), Olivier Cauwenbergh (K2 1000) | |||
CAN |
Adam van Koeverden (K1 1000) | |||
FRA |
Arnaud Hybois (K2 200), Cyrille Carre (K1 1000), Sébastien Jouve (K2 200) | |||
GER |
Sebastian Brendel (C1 1000) | |||
GBR |
Edward McKeever (K1 200), Jon Schofield (K2 200), Liam Heath (K2 200) | |||
IRL |
Andrzej Jezierski (C1 200) | |||
ITA |
Maximilian Benassi (K1 1000), Norma Murabito (K1W 200) | |||
LTU |
Egidijus Balciunas (K1 200) | |||
NOR |
Erik Larsen (K1 1000), Mira Larsen (K1 500) | |||
NZL |
Erin Taylor (WK2 500), Lisa Carrington (WK1 200) | |||
POL |
Marcin Grzy Bowski (C2 1000), Tomasz Kaczor (C2 1000) | |||
POR |
Fernando Pimenta (K2 1000), Emanual Silva (K2 1000) | |||
RSA |
Calvin Mokoto (C1 1000) | |||
ROU |
Josef Chirila (C1 1000) | |||
RUS |
Alexander Dyachenko (K2 200), Yulia Kachalova (K1 500), Yury Postrygay (K2 200) | |||
SVK |
Lubomir Hagara (C1 200) | |||
SWE |
Josefin Nordlow (K2 500), Karin Johansson (K2 500) | |||
SLO |
Špela Ponomarenko Janić (WK1 200 and 500) | |||
ESP |
Alfonso Benavides (C1 200), David Cal (C1 1000) | |||
TUN |
Mohamed Ali Mrabet (K1 1000), Affef Ben Ismail (WK1 500), Khaled Bargoui (C1 Men) | |||
UKR |
Inna Klinova (K1W 200) | |||
USA |
Carrie Johnson (WK1 500) | |||
| * If the overview is incomplete or shows incorrect information please send an email to info@sportscene.tv | ||||
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................

ANG
AUS
BEL
CAN
FRA
GER
GBR
IRL
ITA
LTU
NOR
NZL
POL
POR
RSA
ROU
RUS
SVK
SWE
SLO
ESP
TUN
UKR
USA