Eric Giddens

Eric Giddens was a kayak slalom canoeist who competed in singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Giddens first competed on the international stage at the 1990 World Junior Championships, finishing seventh individually and fourth with the team. He competed at five senior World Championships, and was on the World Cup circuit through 2002. In June 2000 he won his only World Cup event, a K1 slalom on Ocoee River in Georgia.

Giddens graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in environmental biology, and then obtained a PhD in oceanography from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. He married Rebecca Bennett, who as Rebecca Giddens, competed in kayak slalom at the 2000-04 Olympics. Eric and Rebecca Giddens started their own business in Kernville, California, near the Sierra Mountains, running a microbrewery and brew pub, the Kern River Brewing Company.