# Canoeing at the 1972 Summer Olympics

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, seven events in sprint canoe racing were contested, and for the first time at the Olympic Games, four events in slalom canoeing were also contested, at the Augsburg Eiskanal.

## Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Soviet Union (URS) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 | East Germany (GDR) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | Romania (ROU) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | West Germany (FRG) | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 5 | Hungary (HUN) | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | Austria (AUT) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Netherlands (NED) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | France (FRA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Norway (NOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Poland (POL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | United States (USA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (13 entries) | Totals (13 entries) | 11 | 11 | 11 | 33 |

## Medal summary
### Slalom

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men's C-1 details | Reinhard Eiben East Germany | Reinhold Kauder West Germany | Jamie McEwan United States |
| Men's C-2 details | Walter Hofmann and Rolf-Dieter Amend (GDR) | Hans-Otto Schumacher and Wilhelm Baues (FRG) | Jean-Louis Olry and Jean-Claude Olry (FRA) |
| Men's K-1 details | Siegbert Horn East Germany | Norbert Sattler Austria | Harald Gimpel East Germany |
| Women's K-1 details | Angelika Bahmann East Germany | Gisela Grothaus West Germany | Magdalena Wunderlich West Germany |

### Sprint
#### Men's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| C-1 1000 metres details | Ivan Patzaichin Romania | Tamás Wichmann Hungary | Detlef Lewe West Germany |
| C-2 1000 metres details | Vladas Česiūnas and Yuri Lobanov (URS) | Ivan Patzaichin and Serghei Covaliov (ROU) | Fedia Damianov and Ivan Burtchin (BUL) |
| K-1 1000 metres details | Aleksandr Shaparenko Soviet Union | Rolf Peterson Sweden | Géza Csapó Hungary |
| K-2 1000 metres details | Nikolai Gorbachev and Viktor Kratasyuk (URS) | József Deme and János Rátkai (HUN) | Władysław Szuszkiewicz and Rafał Piszcz (POL) |
| K-4 1000 metres details | Soviet Union (URS) Yuri Filatov Yuri Stetsenko Vladimir Morozov Valeri Didenko | Romania (ROU) Aurel Vernescu Mihai Zafiu Roman Vartolomeu Atanase Sciotnic | Norway (NOR) Egil Søby Steinar Amundsen Tore Berger Jan Johansen |

#### Women's events

| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| K-1 500 metres details | Yulia Ryabchinskaya Soviet Union | Mieke Jaapies Netherlands | Anna Pfeffer Hungary |
| K-2 500 metres details | Lyudmila Pinayeva and Yekaterina Kuryshko (URS) | Ilse Kaschube and Petra Grabowski (GDR) | Maria Nichiforov and Viorica Dumitru (ROU) |

## The introduction of slalom: A difficult case

During the Congress of the International Canoe Federation (ICF) in 1966 that the Deutscher Kanu-Verband (DKV) decides to make all possible efforts to include canoeing slalom at the Olympic Games.
During the 67th Session of the IOC in Mexico in 1968, Canoe Slalom and Wild-Water Racing asked to be included into the Olympic Programme. The ICF presents an exposed about these two disciplines. The meeting decides to add canoe slalom to the program with the restriction that the event must not take place too far from the Olympic city.
If the proposition was accepted at the Session in June 1969 these two events will be part of the canoeing events that will make up one of the 21 sports of the Olympic Program in 1972.
During the Executive Board meeting in 1969 in Lausanne, Charles de Coquereaumont said that although the slalom could be held in the centre of Munich, but the river-racing event would have to be held in Garmisch, 300 km from Munich. The Executive Board decided to recommend slalom for Munich 1972 Summer Olympic Games, but the question would later be reviewed. However, River-racing was not approved.
The Organizing Committee examines the possibility of building the Canoe-Slalom tracks in Munich about 5–6 km from the Olympic Village. The architects and technical staff examine two possibilities on the Isar River in the center of Munich. But in the construction problem there are some technical difficulties. The third possibility is to organize the Canoe-Slalom competition in Augsburg, which is about 64 km from Munich too far of the Olympic Village : referencing to the decision which was taken in 1969 the canoe slalom competition have to be held as near as possible to this Village. IOC decides that Canoe slalom for the Munich Games will be omitted from the programme if they would have to take place in Augsburg.
Finally, IOC gives final approval to organize events on Eiskanal in Augsburg during the Amsterdam's session in 1970 : Request that the Canoe Slalom for the Munich Games 1972 be held at Augsburg because a railway service will be ensured between the Olympic Village and Augsburg and will take 30 minutes. However, the decision was reviewed for the next Olympic Games and the slalom events were removed from the program again at the 1976 Summer Olympics and would only return to the program at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

## Ideological confrontation during slalom events

The decision to include canoe slalom events at the Olympic program was taken during the Cold War. Moreover, Germany was the symbol of world division. Consequently, the Olympic events become the scene of a confrontation between the West Germans and East Germans. Each seeking to assert its own ideological model. It was the West German who have the advantage because the Olympic Games take place in Munich and slalom events take place at Augsburg on Eiskanal. So, they used to train in this whitewater stadium. However, the East German National Federation canoe sends his national coach, Mr. Lempert in West-Germany. He pretends to be an entrepreneur of the International Canoe Federation. He can reproduce the plans of Eiskanal. A reproduction of the whitewater stadium is built around Zwickau. The two Germanys are again equal. Finally it is the East Germans who win with four gold medals and one bronze against three silver medals and one bronze for West Germany.