Blog posts
Olympic Canoe Slalom Training Cancelled
All Olympic canoe slalom training sessions at Whitewater Stadium have been cancelled on Thursday afternoon due to "technical issues on the course," organisers announced.
"It was an issue with the pumps on the course," said Miguel Gomes, media officer at Whitewater Stadium.
"It should be fixed today."
Gomes was unsure if the fix would take 15 minutes or a couple of hours – but expects slalom training to resume on Friday.
Gomes does not expect competition schedules to be affected.
Rio 2016 Organising Committee later...Read more
Flash Quotes: OLIVEIRA (BRA), CORREA (BRA)
RIO DE JANEIRO - Comments from men's C2 paddlers Anderson OLIVEIRA (BRA) and Charles CORREA (BRA) after training at the Whitewater Stadium in Deodoro X-Park on Thursday.
Anderson OLIVEIRA (BRA)
On representing Brazil in his home Olympic Games:
"It is almost unexplainable. It is a very unique feeling to be able to represent my own country in my first Olympics here in Rio de Janeiro.
"I am really excited about the legacy that this event can bring to the community, not only with the course but the fact there is going to be...Read more
The mental game
We can assume the paddlers at the Olympics are all at the peak of their fitness. We can assume they have all mastered advanced whitewater skills and technique such that there is little to choose between them. So what will make the Olympic champions?
We interviewed Jonathan Males Ph.D. Males is a sports psychologist who has worked with athletes and coaches across the last seven Olympic games. He is the author of In the Flow, a book on performance psychology for paddle sports....Read more
Feel The Ultimate Run
Rici Funk (GER:K1W) helps us understand what it would feel to race on the Rio course.
Yesterday, we highlighted U23 paddlers on the rise. 24-year-old Funk world ranking has risen from 31 in 2012 to number 4. This makes it all the more disappointing to know that she is not racing at the Rio Olympics. Funk won the semi-final at the November Deodoro test event in 106.69 seconds clear and she currently leads the 2016 World Cup series. I predict we will see Funk at her best at next year’s ICF World Championships as we start the next Olympic cycle.
...Read more
Flash Quotes: Canoe Single (C1) Men: BENUS (SVK)
RIO DE JANEIRO - Comments from top-ranked Men's C1 paddler Matej BENUS (SVK) after training at the Whitewater Stadium in Deodoro X-Park on Wednesday.
Matej BENUS (SVK)
On the absence of two other high-ranked Slovakian C1 paddlers from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games:
"The journey has been hard because we have a lot of good C1s in our country.
"It is has been difficult to fight against Michal MARTIKAN (SVK) but there is not only Michal, there is another top C1 paddler Alexander SLAFKOVSKY (SVK) in our selection. There were three...Read more
Canoe slalom by the numbers
RIO DE JANEIRO - By the numbers for the canoe slalom competition which begins on Sunday 7 August at the Whitewater Stadium.
1972 - Canoe slalom was first part of the Olympic programme at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. Athletes from former Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) won all four gold medals. Canoe slalom was dropped from the programme for 20 years, returning in 1992.
36 - Elena KALISKA (SVK) is the oldest athlete to have won a gold medal in Olympic canoe slalom (as a 36-year-old). She did so in the women's K1 at the...Read more
