GB Canoeing Media Guide Rio 2016 DEFIN.Indd

2016 Olympic & Paralympic Media Guide Thank you to all our supporters CONTENTS Welcome to British Canoeing .............................................................................................................................4 Canoe Slalom History ...................................................................................................................................................................6 Great Britain's track record ..................................................................................................................................6 Sport overview ......................................................................................................................................................7 Terminology ..........................................................................................................................................................8 Competition schedule ..........................................................................................................................................9 Olympic events and competition format .........................................................................................................10 Selection process ................................................................................................................................................10 Ones to watch .....................................................................................................................................................11 Olympic and World Championship medallists .................................................................................................11 Canoe slalom venue ...........................................................................................................................................12 Athlete profiles ............................................................................................................................................. 13-16 Canoe Sprint History .................................................................................................................................................................18 Great Britain's track record ................................................................................................................................18 Sport overview ....................................................................................................................................................19 Terminology ........................................................................................................................................................20 Competition schedule ........................................................................................................................................21 Olympic events and competition format .........................................................................................................22 Selection process ................................................................................................................................................23 Ones to watch .....................................................................................................................................................23 Olympic and World Championship medallists .................................................................................................24 Athlete profiles ............................................................................................................................................. 25-30 Paracanoe History .................................................................................................................................................................34 Great Britain's track record ................................................................................................................................34 Sport overview ....................................................................................................................................................35 Terminology ........................................................................................................................................................36 Competition schedule ........................................................................................................................................37 Paralympic events and competition format ....................................................................................................38 Selection process ................................................................................................................................................38 Ones to watch .....................................................................................................................................................39 World Championship medallists .......................................................................................................................39 Paracanoe and canoe sprint venue ..................................................................................................................40 Athlete profiles ............................................................................................................................................. 41-46 The team behind the team .......................................................................................................................... 47-48 MEDIA CONTACT For further information or to organise an interview with British Canoeing athletes or staff please contact: Katriona Bush, British Canoeing High Perfomance Media and PR Manager Mobile: 07971 782662 Email: [email protected] 3 MEDIA GUIDE Welcome to British Canoeing It doesn’t seem five minutes since we were We are also getting ready for our home Olympic Games at particularly excited London 2012. Four years on, we have much to that paracanoe will reflect on and be proud of, as our 2016 Olympic make its Paralympic and Paralympic teams in canoe slalom, canoe debut this year. sprint and paracanoe prepare to take on the We established best in the world in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. our performance programme in 2011 Canoeing had its most successful ever Games and have enjoyed considerable success. in 2012, winning four medals to be the third ranked canoeing nation, finishing sixth on the Despite the rapid growth and improving Team GB medal table. Since then our sport has standards at world level, Great Britain has been flourished both off and on the water. the leading paracanoe nation since 2012 and we are sending a full team of six athletes to Rio, At Lee Valley White Water Centre, the 2012 one of only two nations to do so. Games venue for slalom, in partnership with Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, Sport None of this would have been possible without England and UK Sport, we have built a fabulous the vision and commitment of British Canoeing high performance centre which has significantly staff and the support of our key partners. I improved the training environment for our would particularly like to acknowledge Sport programme. We have engaged with local England and UK Sport for their continued schools and established a talent development Lottery funding, which has enabled us to build a pathway that is already reaping rewards, with tangible legacy on all fronts from London 2012. our first athlete selected for the British junior team and we now have a thriving community Over the last cycle we have worked closely with paddlesports club with over 300 members. both the British Olympic Association and the British Paralympic Association to prepare our Last year we hosted a successful slalom World athletes for the Games environment and the Championships, where we qualified all four challenges that lie ahead. We are confident that boats for Rio and David Florence was crowned we will arrive in Brazil amongst the very best World Champion for the second time in C1. prepared teams and we wish our athletes and staff all the very best for Rio 2016. Similarly, we now have a new high performance centre for canoe sprint at Dorney Lake and we And finally, we thank you for your coverage are starting to see a wealth of new young talent of our sport. We hope you will find this guide coming through from our clubs and talent useful and that you enjoy reporting on our development programme. Our Girls4Gold three exciting canoeing disciplines. programme based at Nottingham is also proving a success, with a number of athletes now on U23 and senior teams. In June, Liam Heath was crowned European champion in the men’s K1 200m and Jess Walker took silver in John Anderson MBE, the equivalent event for women. British Canoeing Performance Director 4 Canoe SLALOM CANOE SLALOM Canoeing is a fantastic sport with two exciting Olympic disciplines – canoe slalom and canoe sprint. In both disciplines two types of boats are used; canoes and kayaks. History Great Britain’s track record Canoe slalom began in in Switzerland in British Canoeing has a strong track record of 1933 on flatwater, with the concept being medal success at European, World and Olympic modelled on ski slalom, but it soon switched to level and has won Olympic medals in canoe whitewater rapids. It made its Olympic debut in slalom since 1992. 1972 at the Munich Games on the first artificial whitewater course, which set the blueprint for Great Britain has won a total of seven Olympic modern day competition courses.

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