Ronald Rauhe is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since 1997. Competing in six Summer Olympics, he won a complete set of medals in the K-2 500 m event. Rauhe has won 16 world championship gold medals, the most by a male kayaker; now with 26 World medals, in 2011 he exceeded the 20 of his compatriot, Torsten Gutsche.
The ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships are an international event in canoe racing, one of two top-tier Summer Olympic sport events organized by the International Canoe Federation. They are usually held every non-Olympic year and have officially included paracanoe events since 2010; paracanoe-specific editions of this event are usually held in Summer Paralympic years.
Canoeing has been featured as competition sports in the Summer Olympic Games since the 1936 Games in Berlin, and they were also demonstration sports at the 1924 Games in Paris. There are two disciplines of canoeing in Olympic competition: slalom and sprint.
Germany was represented at the 1956 Summer Olympics by a United Team of Germany of athletes from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and, for the first time at Summer Games, also from East Germany which had not joined in 1952. Also, the Saarland athletes who had to enter as a separate team in 1952 could now join in even though the accession of their state was not yet in effect. Thus, this was the only Olympic team ever to comprise athletes from three German states.
Rowing at the 1964 Summer Olympics featured seven events, for men only.
The men's K-4 1000 metres event was a fours kayaking event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme on Lake Sagami, Japan. This event debuted at these games and is only one of two events that has been at every ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.
Alan Blair Thompson is a sprint canoeist who competed in the early to mid-1980s. He competed at three Olympic Games (1980–1988) and won two Olympic gold medals for New Zealand.
The 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 12–16 August 2009 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Lake Banook. The competition was organized by the International Canoe Federation (ICF). The Canadian city was selected to host the championships in October 2003 after having done so previously in 1997. Final preparations were made after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, with competition format changed for the first time since the 2001 championships. Four exhibition events for both paddleability and women's canoe were added. Sponsorship was local within the province of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Regional Municipality. Media coverage was provided from Canada, Europe and the United States on the Internet, television and mobile phone. 669 canoeists from 68 nations participated at the championships themselves.
The 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held 19–22 August 2010 in Poznań, Poland, on Lake Malta. This was the third time that the Polish city hosted the championships, having done so previously in 1990 and 2001. Paracanoe and the women's C-1 200 m events that were exhibition events at the previous world championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, became official events at these championships.
Gabriella Szabó is a Hungarian sprint canoer who has competed since the late 2000s.
Danuta Kozák is a Hungarian sprint canoeist. She has won one silver, one bronze and six Olympic gold medals, three of which in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, making her the first female to win K1, K2 and K4 at the same Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in Women's K-4 500 metres, and bronze medal in Women's K-2 500 metres.
The women's K-2 500 metres event was a pairs kayaking event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 1960 Summer Olympics program on Lake Albano. This event debuted at these Olympics though it is one of two events that has been at every ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships (the other is the men's K-4 1000 m event which debuted at the 1964 Games in Tokyo and ran until the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The women's K-4 500 metres event was a fours kayaking event conducted as part of the Canoeing at the 2000 Summer Olympics program.
Franziska John is a German sprint canoer who has competed since the late 2000s.
Dame Lisa Marie Carrington is a flatwater canoeist and New Zealand's most successful Olympian, having won a total of eight gold medals and one bronze medal. She won three consecutive gold medals in the Women's K‑1 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as gold in the same event at the 2011 Canoe Sprint World Championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she also won a gold medal in the K‑2 500 metres, with Caitlin Regal, and as an individual in the K‑1 500 metres. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Carrington defended her titles in the K‑1 500 metres and K‑2 500 metres event and also won the K‑4 500 metres event. Carrington equalled Danuta Kozák's record of winning all three K-1, K-2, K-4 events, over 500 metres, at one Olympics.
Teneale Hatton is a New Zealand flatwater canoeist.
Marharyta Ryhorauna Makhneva, née Tsishkevich, Belarusian: Маргарыта Рыгораўна Махнева (Цішкевіч); Łacinka: Marharyta Ryhoraŭna Machnieva (Ciškievič); born 13 February 1992) is a Belarusian sprint canoeist. She won two gold medals at the 2015 World Championships and the bronze medal in Women's K-4 500 metres at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's K-4 500 metres.
Ren Wenjun is a Chinese sprint canoeist. She won a gold medal, as a member of the Chinese women's kayak four team, at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, with a time of 1:34.440. This was despite 2010 being the year Ren made her international debut.
Caitlin Regal is a New Zealand canoeist. On 3 August 2021 she won a gold medal alongside Lisa Carrington in the K-2 500 metres event.
The women's K-1 500 metres sprint canoeing event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 4 and 5 August 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway. At least 13 canoeists from at least 13 nations competed.
