- Uladzimir Parfianovich
Uladzimir Parfianovich ; Russian: Владимир Парфенович, "Vladimir Parfenovich"; born December 2, 1958 in Minsk, USSR) is a 3-time Olympic champion and nine times World and European champion in kayak and a politician from Belarus.
- Ben Fouhy
Ben Fouhy (born 4 March, 1979, Taumarunui) is New Zealand's top flatwater canoer. In 2003 he became individual kayak (K1) 1000m world champion at Gainesville, USA. This was the first time a New Zealander had won canoeing's blue riband event since their heyday of the 1980's. He won a silver medal in the K1 1000m at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Fouhy had a disappointing world championships in 2005, finishing off the podium for the first time.
- Andrian Dushev
Andrian Dushev (born 6 June 1970) is a Bulgarian canoer and former Olympic, world and European medallist. Republican champion many times during his career he was first called up to the national team of Bulgaria in 1989. In the same year he became a consultant at the “Levsky”-Sofia Sports Club (Canoe-Kayak).
- Volodymyr Morozov
Volodymyr Morozov (born March 4, 1940 in Krasnovodsk, Turkmen SSR) is a retired flatwater canoer from Ukraine. Morozov trained at Armed Forces sports society in Krasnovodsk and later in Kiev. Morozov began canoeing in 1957 and became a member of the USSR National Team in 1963. He won gold medals for the USSR at four consecutive Olympics between 1964 and 1976. Only Sweden's Gert Fredriksson has won more Olympic titles in the kayak disciplines.
- Tony Estanguet
Tony Estanguet (born 6 May 1978) is an French slalom canoer. He has won two Olympic gold medals in the C-1 event, in 2000 and 2004.
- Elena Kaliská
Elena Kaliská is a Slovak slalom canoer. She won a silver medal in the K-1 event at the 2004 Olympic Games. At the previous Olympic Games in 2000 she finished fourth.
- Antonio Rossi
Antonio Rossi (born December 19, 1968 in Lecco) is an Italian canoer who won five medals in kayak flatwater canoeing. He has also been successful at the canoeing World Championships.
- Gert Fredriksson
Gert Fredriksson (November 21, 1919 - July 5 2006) was a Swedish kayaker. He was the most successful male canoeist ever, having gained medals in a succession of Swedish, Nordic, World and Olympic championships from 1942 - 1960. Fredriksson remains the most successful Swede at the Olympics, winning six gold medals at four Olympics. Fredriksson won his first Olympic gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics winning the 1,000 and 10,000 metre events.
- Ibrahim Rojas
Ibrahim Rojas Blanco is a retired Cuban flatwater canoer. In 2001 he and partner Leobaldo Pereira won Cuba's first-ever world championship gold medal. In all Rojas won three world titles and was Pan-American champion four times. He also won silver medals at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics. All his medals came in the two-man (C2) Canadian canoe discipline, first with Pereira and later with Ledis Balceiro.
- Andreas Dittmer
Andreas Dittmer (born 16 April 1972 in Neustrelitz) is a German flatwater canoeist. The dominant Canadian canoeist of his generation in 1000 m races, he has won three Olympic and eight world championship gold medals. Dittmer won his first world championship medal - a bronze - in Paris in 1991 as a member of Germany's four-man (C-4) 500m crew. In 1994 he won the C-2 1000m world championship with Gunar Kirchbach.
- György Kolonics
György Kolonics, born June 4, 1972 in Budapest, is a Hungarian canoer, who has won four Olympic medals in the Hungarian team on Canadian Canoe events. He has also had outstanding success at the Flatwater Racing World Championships. No other paddler currently in competition can match his record of fourteen World Championship gold medals. He has also won three European titles - C1 1000m (1997), C1 500m (2001) and C2 500m (2004). "Kolo" is a member of the Csepel club.
- Campbell Walsh
Campbell Walsh (b. 26 November 1977, Glasgow) is a Scottish kayaker who won a Silver Medal in the K1 Single Class at the 2004 Olympics. He also won a Silver at the 2004 European Championships in the K1 Team Event and was World Cup Champion the same year. In 2006 he won a Bronze Medal at the World Championships in the K1 Single.
- Birgit Fischer
Birgit Fischer (born 25 February 1962 in Brandenburg an der Havel, then East Germany) is a kayaker, who has won 8 gold medals over a record 6 different Olympic Games: twice representing East Germany, then four times representing the reunited nation. After both the 1988 and 2000 games, she announced her retirement, only to return for the subsequent games. She has been both the youngest- and oldest-ever Olympic canoeing champion (ages 18 and 42).
- Mitică Pricop
Mitică Pricop is an athlete from Romania, who competes in flatwater canoeing. He won two Canadian canoe medals, gold and bronze, at the 2000 Summer Olympics with teammate Florin Popescu. The following year, they were double European champions over 500m and 1000m. In 2002, Pricop won World Championship gold as part of the Romania C-4 500m team. The following year they crossed the line second at the world championships in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, …
- Nathan Baggaley
Nathan Baggaley (born December 6, 1975 in Byron Bay, New South Wales) is an Australian flatwater canoer and surfski champion. He is a three-times world champion in the individual kayak (K1) 500m event and has also won two Olympic silver medals. He made his international debut for Australia in 1997, initially competing in the K2. In 1999 he switched to the K1 and reached the 500m semi-finals at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
- Martin Doktor
Martin Doktor) is the Czech Republic's best-known flatwater canoer. He was double Olympic champion in the Canadian canoe C-1 discipline in Atlanta in 1996. He went on to win two world championship gold medals (C1 200m 1997 and C1 500m 1998). He was also European C1 1000m champion in 1997 and 2000. At the 2004 Summer Olympics Doktor was unfortunate not to add to his medal tally, coming in fourth in the 1000m final and fifth in the 500m.
- István Szabó
István Szabó is a Hungarian canoer who has won two Olympic medals in the K-2 1000 m event.
- David Cal
David Cal Figueroa (born October 10, 1982 in Cangas, Galicia, Spain) is a Spanish flatwater canoer. He specialises in the Canadian canoe C1 event. Cal was a junior world championship bronze medallist in Zagreb in 1999 (C1 1000m). The following year he became European C1 500m junior champion at Boulogne, France in 2000. He also won the C1 1000m bronze medal. He was a reserve at the Sydney Olympics. At the 2002 European under-23 championships in Zagreb, Croatia, …
- Florin Popescu
Florin Popescu is a Romanian flatwater canoer. He won two Olympic medals in the C-2 event at the 2000 Summer Olympics with his teammate Mitică Pricop. He won a total of seven world championship gold medals as well as seven European championship golds, making him the most successful Romanian paddler of modern times. Injury forced Popescu to retire at the end of the 2005 season after winning his seventh world title (C4 500m) at the World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
- Ivan Patzaichin
Ivan Patzaichin (b. November 26, 1949) is a retired Romanian flatwater canoer who won seven Olympic medals, four gold and three silver, more than any other competitor in the history of the Canadian canoeing events. He also won eight world championship gold medals:- * C1 1000m (1973, 1977) * C1 10,000m (1978) * C2 500m (1979) * C2 1000m (1970, 1981, 1983) * C2 10,000m (1982) Born in Mila 23, Tulcea County, to a Russian Lipovan family, …
- Viktor Reneysky
Viktor Iosifovich Reneysky, born January 24, 1967 in Babruysk, is a canoer from Belarus who won three Olympic medals for the USSR and Moldova in the C-2 event with his teammate Nikolaï Juravschi. He also won a total of nine world titles, more than any other Canadian canoe paddler of his generation. Reneysky trained at Dynamo in Babruysk. Reneysky and Juravschi won two gold medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics as competitors for the USSR.
- Alexey Volkonsky
Alexey Volkonsky, born 4 December 1978 in Vladivostok, is a Russian flatwater canoer. He is a former world and European champion in the Canadian canoe C4 1000m. Volkonsky did not take up canoeing until the relatively late age of fifteen, when he was persuaded by friends to switch from judo. In 1999 he won two gold medals at the senior European championships in Zagreb in the C4 500m and C4 1000m.
- Ronald Rauhe
Ronald Rauhe (born 3 October 1981 in Berlin) is an athlete from Germany who competes in flatwater canoeing. He has won ten world championship gold medals in the Kayak discipline, more than any other kayak racer currently in competition. Rauhe was selected for the 1997 World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland at the age of just fifteen years nine months.
- Adam van Koeverden
Adam Joseph van Koeverden (born January 29, 1982 in Oakville, Ontario) is a Canadian flatwater kayak racer and reigning Olympic champion in K-1 500 m. He won a bronze medal in the K-1 1000 m at the 1999 world junior championships in Zagreb, Croatia, and then became world junior marathon champion in 2000. His first success as a senior came with a silver medal at the 2003 world championships in Gainesville, Georgia in the men's K-1 1000 m event.
- Hannes Lindemann
Dr. Hannes Lindemann made two solo transatlantic crossings in a dugout canoe and a production seventeen-foot (approximately 5m) Klepper Aerius II double folding kayak). His book "Alone at Sea" (ISBN 3-925660-27-5) documents the trips, which were totally unassisted. He was motivated to make the trip by an interest in how the human body and mind respond to stress. He had his boat delivered to the Canary Islands, before paddling to the Caribbean.
- Maxim Opalev
Maxim Opalev (born 4 April 1979 in Volgograd) is an athlete from Russia, who competes in flatwater canoeing. Opalev participated in two Summer Olympics (2000 and 2004), and came home with a medal each time. He is a current (2006) World and European champion. Opalev's potential was evident when he won two gold medals as a sixteen-year-old at the 1995 World Junior Championships in Yamanashi, Japan.
- Torsten Gutsche
Torsten Gutsche was a German flatwater canoer of the 1990's whose record of 11 world championship titles has not been matched by any other Kayak racer. He won three Olympic and seven World gold medals with K-2 partner Kay Bluhm. After the Atlanta Olympics he switched to Germany's four-man kayak winning four more gold medals.
- Matija Ljubek
Matija Ljubek was a successful canoer from Belišće, Croatia. He became world famous during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, where he won a golden medal in 1000 m and a bronze medal in 500 m Canadian canoeing. In the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, USA he repeated his success, this time with a golden medal in 500 m and a silver one in 1000 m. His trainer was Laszlo Hingl. Ljubek died in 2000 when he was shot by a relative due to family dispute.
- Dragan Zorić
Dragan Zorić is a Serbian flatwater canoer and current (2006) world champion. An international since 1999, he two medals at the European under-23 championships in Zagreb, Croatia - silver in the K2 1000m and bronze in the individual K1 500m. Zorić is now Serbia's top kayak sprinter. He won the first major title of his senior career at the 2005 World Championships, again held in Zagreb, taking the gold medal in the K2 200m sprint with partner Ognjen Filipović.
- Ferenc Csipes
Ferenc Csipes is a Hungarian canoer who has won four Olympic medals (one gold, two silver and one bronze) in kayak flatwater canoeing. He also won eight world championship golds between 1985 and 1991. *1985 K1 1000m Mechelen, Belgium *1986 K1 10000m Montreal, Canada *1986 K4 1000m Montreal, Canada *1987 K2 1000m Duisburg, Germany *1987 K4 1000m Duisburg, Germany *1989 K4 1000m Plovdiv, Bulgaria *1990 K4 1000m Poznań, Poland *1991 K4 1000m Paris, France
- Nikolay Bukhalov
Nikolay Bukhalov (born March 20, 1967 in Karlovo) is Bulgaria's most successful ever flatwater canoer. He competed in the Canadian canoe C-1 event. He won three individual canoe Olympic medals, including double gold at Barcelona in 1992. In addition he won five world championship gold medals (1993, 1994 (2) and 1995 (2)). The final gold medal of his career came at the 1997 European Championships, held on his home course in Plovdiv, where he won the the C-1 500m title.
- John MacGregor
John MacGregor (1825 - 1892), nicknamed "Rob Roy" after a renowned relative, was a Scottish explorer, travel writer and philanthropist. He is generally credited with the development of the first sailing canoes and with popularising canoeing as a middle class sport in Europe and the United States. The son of General Sir Duncan MacGregor, he was introduced to canoeing in the course of a trip to the United States and Canada in 1858.
- Josefa Idem
Josefa Idem Guerrini (born September 23, 1964 in Goch, West Germany) is an Italian canoer. She has won four Olympic medals in kayak flatwater canoe racing, and 35 international medals during her career. She was the first Italian woman to win World Championships and Olympic medals in kayak. Josefa Idem began paddling at the age of eleven. In 1977, aged thirteen, she competed at the European Championships in Plovdiv and won gold medals over 200, …
- Larry Cain
Laurence J. "Larry" Cain (born January 9, 1963) is a Canadian canoeist. Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was the first Canadian canoeist since Frank Amyot to win a Gold medal in canoeing. In 1984, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1997, he was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. He currently teaches Physical Education at St.Mildred's-Lightbourn School.
- Martin Marinov
Martin Marinov (born 25 October 1967) is a retired Bulgarian flatwater canoer. A former "Mr Bulgaria" he won two Olympic medals for that country in the Canadian canoeing 500m events. In Seoul in 1988 he was the bronze medallist in the C-1 500m. Four years later in Barcelona he and teammate Blagovest Stoyanov won bronze in the C-2 500m. At the 1996 Olympics Marinov and Stojanov reached both C-2 finals, finishing fourth (1000m) and fifth (500m).
- Christian Gille
Christian Gille (born 6 January 1979 in Wolfen, Germany, European Union) is a German flatwater canoer. he competes in the Canadian canoe events. A junior world champion (C4 1000m) in 1993 he won two senior world championship gold medals with Thomas Zereske in the C2 200m sprint in 1997 and 1998. They also competed at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, placing fifth in the C2 500m final. In 2002 Gille won the only individual (C1) world championship medal of his career.
- Imre Pulai
Imre Pulai (born November 14, 1967) is a Hungarian canoer, who won two Olympic medals in the Canadian canoeing event, including a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics with teammate Ferenc Novak. As a twenty year-old, Pulai reached the individual (C1) 1000m final at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, finishing in sixth place. However, it was not until five years later that he won the first of his four world championship gold medals - in the C4 1000m in Copenhagen.
- Ian Ferguson
Ian Gordon Ferguson, MBE, (born July 20, 1952 in Taumarunui) is New Zealand's most successful Olympian, competing in K1, K2, and K4 kayak events. He first competed at the Montreal, Canada Olympic Games in 1976 and again at Moscow, Russia Olympic Games in 1980. In the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, 1984 he earned three gold medals. He then earned another gold medal and a silver medal at the Olympic Games held in Seoul, Korea in 1988.
- Nicolae Juravschi
Nicolae Juravschi (or Nikolai Juravskiborn August 8, 1964) is a Moldovan canoer, who won three Olympic medals in the C-2 event with his teammate Viktor Reneysky. In Soviet time Juravschi trained at the Armed Forces sports society in Kishinev. The pair won two gold medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics, as competitors for the USSR. In the next three years Juravschi won a total of 8 world championship gold medals in the C-2 and C-4 events.
- Steven Ferguson
Steven Sean Ferguson (born May 8, 1980 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a canoer, surf lifesaver and former swimmer from New Zealand. He competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. There he didn't pass the qualifying heats in the 100 and 200m breaststroke. He also competed in swimming at the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Ferguson followed in the footsteps of his famous father Ian, in representing New Zealand in canoeing at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, …