I’ve heard of it and googled it. anyone have info or pics ??? THANKS !!!
The Olympics
have two types of kayaking, sprint and slalom. Of these two the term olympic seems to be mostly associated with sprint racing. For more information
http://www.canoeicf.com/flatwater/index.php
Odd, I think of slalom.
Slaloms more fun to watch
I tend to think of both but if I see someone advertising a kayak for sale as an “olympic K1” I assume its a flatwater race boat.
they should give both more air time
during the olympics. ww slalom racing in particular is insane (in terms of skill strength and stamina) and makes for awesome viewing, but methinks that it is so arcane for the average watcher that the networks all but ignore it.
Here in Australia
When they do show slalom at the olympics they use comentators who at best may have been sprint racers and they have no idea what they are trying to describe. One comentator during the C1 slalom kept calling a cross bow stroke a J stroke?? They aren’t even familiar with the rules which wouldn’t take long to have a quick read through.
Generally the amount of coverage is closely related to the number of medals likely to be won by the country where you are watching. This is really unfortunate for those of us who are interested in sports that are considered non mainstream where we live.
Those of you able to get CBC
will find the Canadian coverage of both the slalom and flatwater far more extensive than any of the American channels.
Olympic coverage
For countries that have large medal counts, it’s only natural that TV coverage focus mostly on medal winning potentials. Don’t just blame it on the TV. They’re too busy covering the events that may have potential winners. Call it nationalism. It’s somewhat unfortunate for those of us who’re into sports outside the mainstream.
Canadian TV, on the other hand, have the freedom and the luxery of plenty of time slot to cover what they think is exciting or entertaining. For those who live near the border, or have cable that carries CBC, you’re in luck…
Ah the joys of cable
I thought cable TV was supposed to solve all these problems and cover everything. As near as I can tell, in practice, there’s 100 channels all with the same ol’ sh*t.
Grrr!
Olympic sprint paddler
Norwegian sprint paddler Eirik Larsen maintains a homepage and weblog at: http://www.veraaslarsen.com
There are not many full time professional paddlers in the world but Eirik is one of them.
/Peter
www.kayaksport.net
icf clubs welcome new people for a week or a weekend at their club. Try usack or try canada with many clubs that produce kids who kick my butt every summer as they fly thru water with perfect paddling technique. Canada is very into teaching all high school kids to paddle a boat and week long flyin’s to a remote area where you take a week or 2 to paddle back to a town are big in Canada. Try canmas
So true.
Better coverage. More air time. Good commentators.
Here you go.
http://www.olympic.org/uk/sports/programme/index_uk.asp?SportCode=CA
By the way, I like your enthusiasm for the sport. Some people roll their eyes at “newbie” questions and post, but they remind me of what I felt like when I first discovered this great sport.