DeAnne Hemmens

DeAnne Hemmens competed in flatwater canoeing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, racing in both the K2 and K4 events. Hemmens also competed twice at the Pan American Games, winning a gold medal in K2 in 1995, along with bronzes in K2 and K4 in 1991, and a silver in K4 in 1995. Her Olympic participation in 1996 was notable when she later found out she was two months pregnant at the time.

Hemmens also competed in lifesaving and long-distance surfski racing events. She won the National Lifeguard Surfski Championship in 2001. In long-distance events she won the USA Surfski Championships in San Francisco several times and completed the Moloka’i Channel crossing four times, twice as a single and twice with her husband, Patrick.

She and Patrick formed Ocean Paddlesports in Costa Mesa, California, which is a dealer of quality ocean racing and recreational equipment for surfski paddling, paddleboarding, surf life saving and related sports.