The 2008 Summer Olympics took place in Beijing China. While the majority of the world was watching Michael Phelps make Olympic History, die hard paddlers were focused on the Canoe / Kayak events. There were 4 Olympic Slalom events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The men competed in 3 events and there was 1 event for the women.

The slalom canoe / kayak is the whitewater genre of canoe/kayak racing. In slalom races, canoeists and kayakers navigate a whitewater course full of waves, holes, and fast rapids.


Along the way the paddlers must go through hanging gates without making contact with them. Some of the gates can be paddled straight through and others require the paddler to slightly pass and paddle through them going upstream. Unlike in the Olympic Flatwater or Sprint races, in Olympic Slalom Canoe / Kayak, the paddlers are on the course alone. The paddler with the lowest time obviously wins the event.

The event names are simple to understand. The letter will either be a “k” or a “c,” which tells whether the event is a canoe or kayak event. The number immediately following the letter tells how many people there are in each boat. So, a C-2 event means the boats are canoes and each canoe has 2 paddlers in it.

• Learn More about Olympic Canoe / Kayak
• What's the Difference Between Canoe and Kayak?

Here are the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Canoe / Kayak Medalists

2008 Beijing Olympics Canoe/Kayak Slalom Men's C-1 Medalists

• Gold Medal: Martikan, Michal, (SVK) 176.65
• Silver Medal : Florence, David, (GBR) 178.61

• Bronze medal: Bell, Robin, (AUS) 180.59

2008 Beijing Olympics Canoe/Kayak Slalom Men's C-2 Medalists

• Gold Medal: Hochschorner, Pavol & Hochschorner, Peter (SVK) 190.82
• Silver Medal: Volf, Jaroslav & Stepanek, Ondrei (CZE) 192.89
• Bronze Medal: Kuznetsov, Mikhail & Larionov, Dmitry (RUS) 197.37

2008 Beijing Olympics Canoe/Kayak Slalom Men's K-1 Medalists

• Gold Medal: Alexander Grimm (GER) 171.70
• Silver Medal: Fabien Lefevre (FRA) 173.30
• Bronze Medal: Benjamin Boukpeti (TOG) 173.45

2008 Beijing Olympics Canoe/Kayak Slalom Women's K-1 Medalists

• Gold Medal: Elena Kaliska (SVK) 192.64
• Silver Medal: Jacqueline Lawrence (AUS) 206.94
• Bronze Medal: Violetta Oblinger Peters (AUT) 214.77