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| What is
Whitewater Slalom? |
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| Whitewater Slalom
is a competitive sport where the aim is to navigate a decked canoe
or kayak through a course of hanging gates on river rapids in
the fastest time possible. It is one of the two kayak and canoeing
disciplines at the Summer Olympics, and is referred to by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) as either "canoe slalom"
or "kayak slalom". The other Olympic canoeing discipline
is canoe/kayak flatwater. There is also wildwater, a non-Olympic
paddlesport. Whitewater slalom racing started in Europe and in
the 1940s, the International Canoe Federation (ICF) was formed
to govern the sport. The first World Championships was held in
1949 in Switzerland. Since then, the Championships have been held
every two years. Foldboats were used originally; and in the early
1960s, boats were made of fiberglass, and nylon. Boats were heavy,
usually over 65 pounds (30 kilos). With the advent of kevlar and
carbon fiber being used in the 1970s, the widths of the boats
being reduced by the ICF, and the boats being reduced in volume
to sneak the gates, and boats have become much lighter and faster.
From 1949 to 1977 all World Championships were held in Europe.
The first World Championship held in North America was held at
Jonquiere, in Quebec, Canada in 1979. |
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| What are
the Rules? |
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Each gate consists
of two poles hanging from a wire strung across the river. There
are 18- 25 numbered gates in a course and they are colored as
either green (downstream) or red (upstream), indicating the
direction they must be negotiated. Upstream gates are often
placed in eddies, where the water is flat or moving slightly
upstream; the paddler makes the 'breakout' from the main current
and paddles upstream through the gate. Most slalom courses take
80 to 120 seconds to complete for the fastest paddlers. Depending
on the level of competition, difficulty of course, degree of
water turbulence and ability of the other paddlers, times can
go up to 200 seconds. Each competitor has two runs on the course,
and the final result is based either on the faster run (in smaller
races or lower division races) or the sum of the two runs (in
national and international competitions). In international competitions
(World Cups, World Championships, Olympic Games) each competitor
does two runs in the qualification round, the times are added
to give the qualification result. Depending the number of participants
of the event, 10 to 40 boats make it through to the semi-final;
this consists of one run on a different course. The fastest
10 boats per event make it through to the final, where they
navigate the semi-final course once more and times of semi-final
and final run are added to give the final result.
If the competitor's
boat, paddle or body touches either pole of the gate, a time
penalty of two seconds is added. If the competitor misses a
gate completely, displaces it by more than 45 degrees, goes
through the gate upside-down, or goes through it in the wrong
order, a 50 second penalty is given.
There are currently four Olympic
Medal events:
- C-1 (canoe single) Men
- C-2 (canoe double) Men
- K-1 (kayak single) Men
- K-1 (kayak single) Women
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last updated: 06.05.2008
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