London 2012 Slalom Canoe Events Receive Long-Awaited Hype

The London 2012 Olympic slalom canoe events have been more popular than ever, since Thursday's Google doodle brought the arcane sport under the spotlight with an interactive game. Victors in the Olympic events for slalom canoe, which used to be known as whitewater slalom, couldn't be happier about salom's newfound attention, which involves navigating a decked canoe or kayak through an obstacle course in whitewater rapids.

The verb slalom means to zigzag between obstacles, and that's exactly what was done by winner Tony Estanguet from France, who won the gold in the slalom men's canoe single event (C1), teammates Timothy Baillie and Etienne Scott of Great Britain, who scored gold for the slalom men's canoe double event (C2), Danie Molmenti of Italy, who won in the men's kayak, and France's Emilie Fer, who topped the women's kayak event.

In the slalom canoe sprint events, Australia scored big in the K-4 1000m, with team Tate Smith, Dave Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear, coming in first, nabbing Australia its sixth gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

For more on the 2012 Summer games:

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