Canoe-kayak

The 2008 Summer Olympics is slated to be celebrated from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008, at Beijing - the capital of People's Republic of China. The second largest city in China, Beijing is considered the political, educational, and cultural hub of the country. Canoe-kayak is one of the prominent games featuring in the list of 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Sports.

Though canoe and kayak events were introduced to the Olympic program as early as 1936, yet it wasn't before 1972 that both Flatwater canoeing and Slalom canoeing were contested in the Olympics. The Canoe-kayak event in 2008 Beijing Olympics will be held at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on the side of Chaobai River in Beijing's Shunyi District. The time for the event has been scheduled as August 11-23, 2008.

In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, canoe-kayak racers will compete in four events - three for men and one for women. The men's events include Canadian singles (C1) and doubles (C2) besides kayak singles (K1), while the women's events only include kayak singles (K1).

The rules for Canoe/kayak in Beijing Olympics state that the sportswear, accessories or, for that matter any article of clothing or equipment used by the athletes or other participants in the event cannot bear any form of publicity of propaganda, commercial or otherwise. The names of the competitors of canoe-kayak will feature on the side of the boats.

Enlisted below are some of the rules for the canoe-kayak course in 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

• The entire length of the course should be completely navigable and should provide the same conditions for right-handed as well as left-handed C1 paddlers.
• The length of the course must not be less than 250 m (measured from starting line to the finishing line), and the maximum length must not exceed 400 m.
• The canoe-kayak course must contain natural and/or artificial obstacles.
• There must be a maximum of 25 gates and a minimum of 18 gates in the course; of these, at least 6 and at the most 7 must be upstream gates.

Flightshotelstours.com gives detailed information on Canoe-kayak and other 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Sports.