When the Whitewater Olympic competitions get under way, take note that there is a strong East Tennessee connection. The course itself was designed by Scott Shipley, who represented the USA in three Olympic games. I worked with Scott here in Roane County in designing his boats for two of them. Scott was ranked number one in the world and took two silver medals in the World Championships and was three times World Cup Champion. He never medaled in the Olympics, although one of the boats we designed was used by the Italian champion, Pierpaulo Ferrazzi, in his Olympic bronze medal performance in Australia.

This year the USA has several excellent athletes competing in whitewater slalom. Of special note is Caroline Queen who is competing in women's kayak. Caroline was born in Knoxville , TN.

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The USA treats paddlers as second tier athletes even though we have several gold medals over the years. In other countries Paddling is a prime time sport. Check out the woman representing Germany, for instance.