“Let’s get Women’s Canoe into the Olympics Now!”  by Albert McDonald.

Excerpt:

“Not including Women’s Canoe racing, in equal measure with the men, at the 2016 Olympic Games is unjust. Plain and simple. There can only be one reason – politics.2013 Spain club women canoe

There are politics because the IOC has put a “cap” on the total number of people that can attend the Olympic Games. Each sport has an “athlete’s quota” – a total allocation of athletes, so if Women’s canoe was added, the number of athletes from Women’s Canoe would have to be subtracted from Men’s kayak or canoe, or Women’s kayak. Those disciplines obviously don’t want to give up their numbers, so rather than take on the problem, the International Canoe Federation simply declared at its November Congress that the status quo would remain for the 2016 Olympics.

Well, that’s not good enough. That response invoked an outcry from WomenCAN International (www.WomenCANintl.com), a group dedicated to getting Women’s’ Canoe in the Olympics, and from leading male canoe paddlers and Olympic medalists, like Larry Cain (see his blog on this subject at www.larrycain.ca*), Steve Giles and Mark Oldershaw.”   READ MORE HERE

*See Larry’s blog TUESDAY, 19 MARCH 2013 “Why We Need More from the International Canoe Federation”

2013 S Am championships podium