Today we are going to discuss about an interesting sport called Canoeing. There are many, who are reading this article, who have probably heard about this sport for the first time. Well to bring you more surprises let us reveal that Canoeing is an Olympic sport as well and that too since 1936!! Would you like to know more about Canoeing? Well then keep on reading this article.
An Interesting Sport Called Canoeing
An Introduction to Canoeing
Canoe (a Spanish word for boat) is an open and a lightweight narrow boat which is pointed at the both ends and the person who wants to use Canoe must seat or kneeling paddlers by using the single bladed paddle. Although for recreation and fun Canoe can be big and can accommodate more than one person, but for the sporting events only one person is accommodated in a Canoe.
Canoeing as a Sport
The International Canoe Federation is the highest governing body who regulates the sport of Canoeing. To participate in Canoeing as a competitor the player has to sit kneeled and need to paddle with a single bladed paddle and has to race with other competitors. There are different kinds of Canoeing competitions held worldwide. There is a Canoe Marathon which is more popular in Europe and in the Northern Americas. There is Canoe Sprint in which the player sits on a high kneeling position. In the ancient time Canoes did not use to have a seat, but in the contemporary Canoes there is a seat available and for the whitewater variance it also has straps.
Variants of Canoeing
For the sports there are only a few variants of Canoeing such as Slalom, Spring, Canoe Racing, Canoe Polo, Play Boating, Extreme Racing and Surf Skiing. For the recreational purpose there are more variants of Canoeing such as, Small Craft Sailing, Whitewater, Sea Kayak, Play boating, Canoe Camping and Marathon Canoeing. There are few other variants of Canoeing as well and they are Wave Skiing, Surf Ski and Rafting.
Canoeing at the Olympics
As we mentioned in our introductory paragraph, Canoeing is an Olympic event since 1936 but it was first introduced as a demonstration sport at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. The normal Canoeing races are 500 or 1000 meters long, but during 1936 to 1956 there was a 10 kilometer event as well in the Olympics. But since 2012 Olympics the 500 meter race has been replaced by the 200 meter race. There are total 4 events in 4 categories for Canoeing in the Olympics, out of which 3 are for men and 1 for women. The former Soviet Union is still leading the medal tally with 51 medals in Canoeing out of which 29 are Gold. Germany needs only 2 more Gold medals to over take the USSR in the overall medal tally in the Olympics.
