GB Canoeing

History of Canoeing in the Olympics

    
Canoeing has been included in the Olympic programme since 1936 when Canoe Sprint was introduced to the Olympic Programme. Canoe Sprint has 12 medal events in the programme and up until now has had two Olympic distances of 500m and 1000m.

In 2008 GB Canoeing won its first ever Olympic Gold medal when Tim Brabants became the Beijing Olympic Champion in the K1M 100m event in 2008.
Tim followed up with a Bronze medal in the K1M 500m event just 24 hours later becoming GB Canoeing’s most successful Olympian.

Canoe Slalom made its debut at the Olympic Games in 1972 but did not return until 1992 in Barcelona. Gareth Marriott won the first ever British Canoeing medal with a silver in the Canadian Singles Class in 1992.

Canoe Sprint has made some changes to the Olympic programme for the London 2012 Olympic Games with the removal of the 500m men’s events and the introduction of 200m racing to the Olympic programme.