Canoeing (Sport)

Canoes have been in use for thousands of years, primarily as a means of transportation.

Canoeing, a water sport practised in canoes, was developed by British barrister John Macgregor (1825–92) in 1865.

People canoeing at Lake Kokkojärvi in Lieksa, Finland By Kokkojärven Luonto -

Macgregor modelled his canoe, which he named Rob Roy, on the design of kayaks used by the indigenous peoples of Canada and Greenland.

The sport was introduced into the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936.

There are two main competitive disciplines: canoe sprint, which takes place on flat water, and canoe slalom, in which paddlers navigate a course of hanging gates on white-water rapids.

Canoe slalom was first included in the Olympic Games at Munich in 1972, though it was not a permanent fixture until the 1992 Barcelona Games.

The word "canoe" derives from the Carib word kenu, meaning dugout, which was brought into European languages by Spanish explorers in the 15th century.

Canoeing is closely related to rowing and sailing as competitive water sports, but is distinguished by the use of a paddle rather than an oar fixed to a rowlock.

The longest canoe journey ever recorded was completed in 1971 by Don Starkell and his son Dana, who paddled from Winnipeg, Canada, to the mouth of the River Amazon in Brazil — a distance of over 19,000 kilometres (12,000 miles).

The Winter Olympics does not include canoeing; all Olympic canoe events are held at the Summer Games, where the sport has been represented continuously since 1948.