Canoe Slalom at the 1972 Summer Olympics

The big change to the 1972 Olympic canoeing program was the addition of slalom (or whitewater) events for men and women. Women’s contested a kayak slalom singles, while men had three slalom events – kayak singles, Canadian singles, and Canadian doubles. It was only an ephemeral change, as whitewater canoeing was removed from the Olympic Program after the 1972 Olympics, only to return in 1992, which seems permanent. Whitewater canoeing first began in Switzerland on the Aar River in 1933. World championships in whitewater (slalom) canoeing begin in 1949.

The whitewater canoeing in 1972 was held at a specially constructed facility in Augsburg, Bavaria. After the facility was built, the German Democratic Republic (GDR / East Germany) sporting authorities built a precise replica in Zwickau, which was used to train their paddlers, and GDR canoeists won all four gold medals in slalom canoeing in München.