Rio 2016 Blog

ICF Planet Canoe #ICFslalom @gregiej Rio2016 Canoe Slalom

All eyes on Deodoro

John Gregory
7 August 2016

Good morning and welcome to the hot and sunny Deodoro Whitewater Stadium. Today starts 5 days of the most spectacular, exhilarating, tense and thrilling canoe slalom competition. C1M heats now start today at 13.30pm (GMT/UTC - 03:00 hour)

Good luck to all of the paddlers and teams. Congratulations to the huge team behind the scenes for what they have achieved in bringing this amazing competition in Brazil to fruition. 

For a preview of today’s C1M & K1M heats see yesterday’s post.

Will...Read more

ICF Planet Canoe #ICFslalom Balint Vekassy @gregiej Rio2016 Canoe Slalom

Rio Olympic canoe slalom day 1 preview

John Gregory
6 August 2016

The canoe slalom paddlers are back in Deodoro after the beautifully choreographed opening ceremony. Here is a preview of what to expect tomorrow for the first day of canoe slalom starting at the fabulous world class Deodoro whitewater centre.

Athletes have spent much time familiarizing themselves with this stunning venue since the Olympic test event last November. It is now ready to host canoe slalom at the Olympics for the 8th time. We are guaranteed new Olympic Champions in each class. 

“Once again just getting to the Games is a story in itself in many...Read more

ICF Planet Canoe #ICFslalom Balint Vekassy @gregiej Rio2016 Canoe Slalom

The incredible atmosphere from live race commentary

John Gregory
5 August 2016

The atmosphere of canoe slalom comes alive through excellent live race commentary. Here we explore how the commentary makes such an incredible difference to the excitement and feeling at these competitions.

 

Deodoro live canoe slalom commentary team 

Your live race commentators for Rio 2016 in Deodoro are Andy Maddock, Tatau Santos and Pedro Oliva. Maddock and Santos worked together on both the Canoe Sprint and Canoe Slalom test events in 2015.

Maddock comes with experience as a paddler, coach and team manager, having...Read more

ICF Planet Canoe #ICFslalom Balint Vekassy @gregiej Rio2016 Canoe Slalom

Canoe Slalom from behind the lens

John Gregory
5 August 2016

Canoe slalom has an incredible appeal through the lens of a camera as well as making stunning TV coverage. There is a personal story behind every picture. We have explained the stories in the captions in this post.

I admire the photographs over the years of a small group of slalom enthusiasts; Tony Tickle, Antony Edmonds, Ettore Ivaldi, Chris Worrall, Pete Astles and ICF photographer Balint Vekassy. I was in awe of the stunning images taken by Tony Tickle in the morning mist of the Savage River at the ’89 World Championships.

...Read more

ICF Planet Canoe #ICFslalom Balint Vekassy @gregiej Rio2016 Canoe Slalom

Canoe slalom support from the bank - the coach

John Gregory
4 August 2016

Today’s posts look both at the important role of the coach and behind the scenes of how the event is judged.

The coach plays a pivotal role in supporting the athlete towards that Ultimate Run. This is not a short-term partnership as the coach and athlete will have spent years working together to hone their performance.

The coach is one member of the athletes' support team that extends to sports psychologists, physiotherapists, dieticians, personal trainers and managers.

Each of the major nation’s competing at Deodoro starting on...Read more

ICF Planet Canoe #ICFslalom Balint Vekassy @gregiej Rio2016 Canoe Slalom

The all seeing eye of the judge

John Gregory
4 August 2016

Today we continue the theme of looking at the different roles of those that make Olympic canoe slalom a success. Here we focus on the role of the Judge and explain in more depth the rules of canoe slalom.

To win a medal the paddler needs to be fast and likely clean, meaning no penalties. As the run times have continued to get shorter the possibility to win or medal with a 2-second penalty is unusual. The Canadian Men's Doubles, C2M, presents a unique challenge for the Judges. Both paddlers must negotiate the gate without either paddler touching the poles. It is...Read more