Power, Speed and Finesse Win Medals in Sprint Kayak

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The still surface of the water seemsto explode as the paddlers strike, and, in an instant, ninefour-man teams are moving their narrow vessels fast enough topull water-skiers. This is Olympic sprint kayaking.

It is an obscure competitive sport in the U.S., but sprintkayaking is very popular in other parts of the world -- toppaddlers in Hungary are regularly featured on the front ofnewspaper sports sections -- and it has been part of theOlympics since 1936.