2012 Olympics Canoeing Draws Attention for Impressive Speed… and Inequality
16 Aug
British kayaker Ed McKeever earned the reputation of being the Usain Bolt of kayaking at the 2012 London Olympics. And while his quiet demeanor is nothing like the attitude we’ve come to expect from the world’s fastest runner, McKeever is fast. He paddled at a rate of three strokes per second to take gold in the 200 meter K-1 (read about his gold metal win HERE).
Yet even as McKeever has helped energize Olympic paddling, the sport is also getting attention for something less worthy: inequality between men’s and women’s racing. The canoe spring division contained eight men’s events and only four for women, and canoe slalom included three disciplines for men and only one for women.
According to an article by the Associated Press, canoeist Samantha Rippington intended to file a High Court challenge against Olympic organizers just one week before the Olympics. And Australia’s women’s canoeing coach publicly stated that canoeing “failed” at the Olympics because of inequality. But don’t expect the situation to be reversed any time soon.
President of the International Canoe Federation, Jose Perurena Lopez, said it will likely be 2024 before the Olympics sees equality between men and women in Olympic canoeing. It’s a matter of quotas , and until Olympic paddling gets more quotas it will be difficult to even the playing field. Read the full article HERE, on ESPN.
