Ben Fouhy

Ben Fouhy (born 4 March 1979, Taumarunui) is a New Zealand flatwater canoer who has been competing since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the silver in the K-1 1000 m event at Athens in 2004.

The recipient of the 2003 Halberg Award for NZ Sportsman of the Year, Fouhy has not since dropped out of the top 5 globally in his sport, and holds the world's fastest time in the K1 1000m event, which he achieved at a 2006 World Cup regatta in Poland.

Career history

Fouhy began kayaking competitively in 2002, following a background in multi-sport events. He discovered an aptitude for paddling after increasing his kayak training to improve his overall multisport performance.

After a handful of domestic wins Fouhy came out of nowhere to take the gold medal at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, after which he won several Sportsperson of the Year titles including the coveted Halberg Award.

The following year, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Fouhy achieved New Zealand’s first medal in Kayaking since the 1980s days of New Zealand’s most medaled Olympians, Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald.

Adam van Koeverden

Adam Joseph van Koeverden (born January 29, 1982) is a Canadian sprint kayaker. He was born in Toronto, Ontario to a Dutch father and a Hungarian mother. His home club is the Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. A three-time world champion, twice in the K-1 500 m and once in the K-1 1000, and eight time medalist.

Sporting career

He won a bronze medal in the K-1 1000 m at the 1999 world junior championships in Zagreb, Croatia, and then became world junior marathon champion in 2000. His first success as a senior came with a silver medal at the 2003 world championships in Gainesville, Georgia in the men's K-1 1000 m event. At the 2004 Summer Olympics van Koeverden won two medals, including a gold in the K-1 500 m and a bronze in the K-1 1000 m. He was Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremonies and was later awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete of 2004.

In 2005, van Koeverden won two medals at the 2005 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia: a silver in the K-1 1000 m and a bronze in the K-1 500 m. At the 2006 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, van Koeverden finished fourth in both the K-1 500 m and 1000 m finals. At the 2006 Canadian Sprint Canoe Championships in Regina, Saskatchewan, he won five gold medals (K-1 1000 m, K-2 1000 m, K-4 1000 m, K-4 200 m, and War Canoe), and two silver medals (K-1 200 m and K-2 200 m).