Lee Valley Regional Park Authority - Guide to Olympic canoeing

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All you need to know about Olympic Canoeing!

Slalom canoeing was first introduced to the Munich Games in 1972
There will be 4 days of competition at the course in 2012
Four gold medals are up for grabs – Men’s K1 (single kayak), C1 (single canoe) and C2 (double canoe) and women's K1.
82 Athletes will be competing
Competitors navigate a twisting sequence of up to 25 ‘coloured gates’ down the 300m-long course
Green and white gates must be taken in a ‘downstream’ direction; red and white gates require competitors to paddle in the 'upstream' direction.
Red and white gates are placed in 'eddies' where the current's direction changes.
For each gate ‘touched’ they receive a two second penalty. For missing a gate there is a fatal 50 second penalty.
In the heats each competitor takes two runs, the better score counting towards gaining a semi-final place.
The semi-final and the final are a single run event.
Great Britain won a Silver medal in the canoe slalom in the 2008 Beijing Games (David Florence C1) and a silver and bronze in Athens in 2004 (Campbell Walsh K1 and Helen Reeves K1)

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