As we boast on our website, the Ocoee River is the only natural river used in a canoe and kayak Olympic Games event. So if you decide to take up an experience with us you get the chance to be a part of Olympic history! With this in mind and with Tokyo 2020 coming up, we decided to delve deeper into the Olympic history of the Ocoee River.

Hosting Rights History

Although canoe and kayak events are now an integral part of the summer Olympics, that hasn’t always been the case. The first appearance for slalom canoeing came in Augsburg, Germany in 1972 for the Munich games, however, the sport wasn’t to be seen again until Barcelona 1992 as many cities found it difficult to find a suitable location to stage the events.

Back in 1990, at the 96th IOC Session in Tokyo, Atlanta was chosen as the surprise host of the 1996 Summer Olympics. It beat off fierce competition from a number of cities including Athens. The Greek capital was expected by many to be chosen as this was also the centenary games with the first modern Olympics being held there in 1896. Atlanta was also not expected to win given another US city (Los Angeles in 1984) had hosted the games relatively recently.

With Atlanta named as host, the Ocoee River soon became the only real choice to host any kind of slalom event, but it wasn’t easy to get it accepted. Discussions had already begun in kayaking and canoeing circles in the late eighties, but it wasn’t until 1992 that the wheels were really in motion to add the Ocoee River to the list of Olympics venues for Atlanta 1996.

First the passionate people of Polk County, Tennessee had to convince their state neighbor officials in Atlanta, Georgia of the feasibility of their venue. In February 1992, Cherokee National Forest received a proposal from the State of Tennessee to construct a site and host the Olympics along the upper Ocoee River. And then, a few months later, Atlanta formally accepted Tennessee’s proposal to add the venue to their final events proposal.

But it wasn’t until December 1992 that the IOC voted to add canoe and kayak events to the 1996 Olympics. That meant the stakes were raised further and the planning for the project was made concrete. Eventually, the Ocoee River officially became an Olympic host venue in 1994 when the Cherokee National Forest signed off on the proposal to host the games and warm-up events once they had studied the various environmental and management factors.

The Competition

In the Summer Olympics of 1996, there were a total of 4 events on the Ocoee River, all four of them in the slalom category (2 canoeing and 2 kayaking events) with three for men and one for women. Meanwhile, twelve other Canoeing events (sprints) took place on Lake Lanier in Georgia. Back on the Ocoee River, the biggest story was 17-year-old Michal Martikan winning Slovakia’s first-ever gold medal when he triumphed in the Men’s C-1. The Men’s C-2 was won by French pair Frank Adisson and Wilfrid Forgues while Oliver Fix of Germany took gold in the Men’s K1. Overall, it was an event dominated by Europeans, but Dana Chladek did manage a silver medal for the USA in the Women’s K-1, which was won by Štěpánka Hilgertová of the Czech Republic.

The venue itself garnered huge praise and organizers estimate about 42,000 visitors descended on Polk County during the three days of competition. At that time, British publication The Economist famously described the venue as a highlight of the games, adding “The Ocoee River, in the Cherokee National Forest, was the venue for the whitewater canoeing. It was a delight.”

The Legacy

An important factor of any Olympic games is the legacy they leave behind. This is often in terms of whether the venue is still in use, the impact on the area, and if the games proved an inspiration for others. We can safely say the Ocoee River and Polk County score high on each.

The venue is still in use today and you can take on the course yourself with us on the 1996 Olympic whitewater slalom competition course. The popularity of the sport has grown ever since the Olympics was hosted here with potential homegrown Olympic stars such as Evy Leibfarth honing her competition skills and winning on the course.

Moreover, Polk County was economically depressed prior to the announcement that it would become an Olympic location. As the Tri-Star Chronicle reported before the games, the Olympic project was likely to generate over $60 million in direct and indirect spending between 1993 and 1997 and create over 300 jobs. In a news report in 2016, it was confirmed that hundreds of thousands now come through the Whitewater Center and the impact of the games has been long lasting. Maybe you will be the next one! Come and join us!