The British Canoe Union celebrates their most successful Olympics to date

Published on 16/8/2012

The British Canoe Union along with the rest of the country has enjoyed a fantastically successful Olympics.

The Team GB Canoeing squad exceeded targets, bringing home four Olympic medals, two gold’s a silver and a bronze, making London 2012 their most successful Olympic yet. 

In Canoe Slalom GB took their first Olympic gold and canoe double medal when Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott paddled home to victory and with David Florence and Richard Hounslow just behind them claiming silver, Canoe Slalom walked away having had their most successful Olympics to date.

In the Canoe Sprint the success was as bright with Ed McKeever winning the first ever K1 200m gold and Liam Heath and Jon Schofield taking home a bronze for Great Britain in the K2 200m, bringing GB’s Canoeing medal tally to a new height.

The successes certainly haven’t gone unnoticed; the medal winning runs at the Canoe Slalom were watched by 4.5 million viewers across the UK and 2.9 million people tuned in to watch the 200m medals be won at Eton Dorney.

This fantastic exposure of our diverse and engaging sport has led to a 4 fold increase in numbers of people searching for a local club, and a 5 fold increase in website traffic compared to a non Olympic year. 

As part of our legacy programme our Canoe England Participation Team delivered canoeing at the specially created live site events prior to the start of the Olympics in 11 cities across England.   In addition, we had strong presence at Eton Dorney, Lee Valley and a Go Canoeing Event site at Weymouth throughout the games; and as a result of these activities we have introduced 35,000 people to canoeing.

BCU CEO Paul Owen commented: “We have had an incredible Olympics as a nation and all at the British Canoe Union and Canoe England are absolutely delighted and extremely proud of our Canoeing athletes, who with their performances have made London 2012 GB Canoeing’s most successful games to date.  Alongside the performances of the athletes we are very pleased to see the impact that the games have had on participation and interest in our sport, and are looking forward to continuing to engage this newly captured audience, maximising on the legacy of the Olympics.”