Paris 2024: programme of events, history, canoeing at the Olympic and Paralympic Games

The Paris 2024 Games are an opportunity for the general public to take a closer look at less traditional sports. This is how we discover canoeing, its history, our best athletes and the competition program, as well as their Paralympic version.

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are undoubtedly the most eagerly awaited sporting event in France, and an opportunity to expand our knowledge of many of the sports on show. How about learning all about canoeing and kayaking, the paddling sport divided into several events and taking place at the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium during this Olympiad?

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A brief history

If you put canoeing and kayaking together, they're not exactly the same sport! The kayak seems to have originated in Greenland, where it was used by Eskimos mainly for hunting, fishing and transport, while the canoe was used all over the world for transport and trade. It was in London, in 1866, that a canoe club took an interest in the professional development of this sport, with the birth of sporting competitions, which became popular throughout Europe.

The Olympic program includes sprint canoeing and slalom canoeing, which are not practiced in the same boat. In the latter, which takes place in whitewater, athletes must pass through gates on a timed course, and can be penalized for touching or missing them. The sprint takes place in a still-water pool, as in rowing, with a race over eight lanes, the aim being to cross the finish line first.

The standards for para-canoeing are the same as for the Olympic Games, the only difference being the width of the kayak's bottom, which is wider to improve the boat's stability. There are two types of boats: kayaks (KL classification) and Va'a (VL classification). For the latter, the athlete paddles only one side of the boat, so a specific technique is required to maintain straight-line movement. He creates his own support on the water and transfers energy to the boat via his body.

This outrigger canoe, whose name means "little boat" in Polynesian, is traditionally used in Oceania, particularly in Tahiti.

Canoeing at the 2024 Olympic Games

Vaires-sur-Marne water sports stadium
individual and team
July 27 to August 5 - August 6 to 10
September 6 to 8 for the Paralympics
between 12,000 and 24,000 places

In the history of the Olympic Games

Slalom appeared for the first time at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972, but was not entered until 1992. 90% of medals come from Europe, and the discipline was mostly practiced on the continent, apart from New Zealand and Australia. For the Paris Olympics, a new format has been introduced, with kayak cross events in which 4 athletes take off together from a starting ramp! The road race made its appearance much earlier, having been introduced in Paris in 1924, and included in Berlin in 1936.

During the Paralympic Games, only sprint canoeing is represented among the canoe-kayak events. 200m of intense effort, for a direct, single-seater confrontation in two types of craft: kayak or Va'a. While kayak events were introduced at the Rio Games in 2016, the Va'a made its first appearance at the Tokyo Games.

Our French athletes

The name Tony Estanguet is bound to ring a bell! Before becoming president of these Olympic Games 2024, he won gold in canoeing three times during the Olympic Games, as did Denis Gargaud Chanut, who took the title at Rio 2016.

For Paris 2024, 82 athletes will be selected in slalom canoeing, while for sprint, 236 athletes are expected, with numerous events and plenty of medal chances. In slalom, Marjorie Delassus, Nicolas Gestin, Camille Prigent and Titouan Castryck will be lining up on the starting line, and other athletes are expected to join them soon.

On the Paralympic side, we can count on Nelia Barbosa est, silver medallist in Tokyo, Abel Aber for his first Games and Rémy Boullé, bronze medallist in Tokyo!