The boats to watch include Germany, United States and France. Oliver FIX of Germany won the title at the World Championships in the K1 in Nottingham, England with 125.72, and teammate Thomas Becker was fourth, only .42 points behind silver-medalist Scott SHIPLEY and .04 behind bronze-medalist Jiri PRSKAVEC.
Lukas POLLERT (CZE) will try to repeat his 1992 Olympic performance, as will silver-medalist Gareth MARRIOTT (GBR). Frenchman Emmanuel BRUGVIN shouldn't be far behind.
Canoe Single (C1)
The C1 sports U.S. darling David HEARN. His closest rival in Nottingham was German Soeren KAUFMANN, followed by Michal MARTIKAN of Slovakia. HEARN came in a disappointing 11th in Barcelona, but his world championship results prove his hard training, and he'll have the home advantage.
World champion HEARN and his American teammate Jon LUGBILL are the local favorites. LUGBILL had won 12 world championship titles and three world cup titles when he finished fourth in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. The heavy favorite, he was prevented from winning multiple Olympic medals only because the absence of the sport from the Olympic Programme during his prime. He retired after the 1992 Games but returned after shaking off a nagging shoulder injury. His style is self-admittedly well suited to the Ocoee. But is he too far past his prime?
Canoe Doubles (C2)
Brothers Lecky and Fritz HALLER of the United States won the first race of the 1995 World Cup season, but a fluke boating accident hampered their performance for the other races. They could still pull out ahead in the C2, though it will be a tough battle against Poles Krzysztof KOLOMANSKI and Michel STANISZEWSKI, the reigning world champions. In Nottingham, the Polish pair was followed by two French teams, Frank ADISSON and Wilfred FORGUES in one boat, and Eric BIAU and Bertrand DAILLE in the third. Two German teams followed, all-in-all promising a tight call in Atlanta.
Great Britain, France and Germany are out front in the women's kayak singles, the only race for women in Olympic competition. Lynn SIMPSON of Great Britain successfully defended her title at the 1995 World Championships in Nottingham, England. She managed to edge out rival Anne BOIXEL of France by 1.51 points despite a bad first run that initially looked to have taken her out of the running. The third- and fourth-place finishers had a tighter spread: only .11.
The first run had plagued the top seeds, as SIMPSON, BOIXEL and third-place finisher Kordula STRIEPECKE of Germany were all penalized. And sixth-place finisher, Cathy HEARN, would have gone home with a silver if it hadn't been for five, first-run penalty points.
Don't count out the Czech Republic. Stepanka HILGERTOVA and Irena PAVELKOVA have had strong showings in the past, and could have good runs if all the conditions are right.
AUS | Australia |
AUT | Austria |
BLR | Belarus |
BRA | Brazil |
CAN | Canada |
CRC | Costa Rica |
CRO | Croatia |
CZE | Czech Republic |
ESP | Spain |
FIN | Finland |
FRA | France |
GBR | Great Britain |
GER | Germany |
GUA | Guatemala |
IRL | Ireland |
ITA | Italy |
JPN | Japan |
LAT | Latvia |
MKD | Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia |
NED | The Netherlands |
NZL | New Zealand |
POL | Poland |
POR | Puerto Rico |
RSA | Republic of South Africa |
RUS | Russia |
SLO | Slovenia |
SUI | Switzerland |
SVK | Slovakia |
SWE | Sweden |
USA | United States |
This is an official publication of The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department.
Written by Jennifer Knight.
| An estimated 5.3 million visted Centennial Olympic Park between opening day - 13 July - and closing day - 4 August, making the park the most single most visited Olympic site during the Games. |