Kayaking originated in the 1860s in the North American Greenland Eskimo.
In 1865, John MacGregor of Scotland made a 4m long, 75cm wide and 30kg kayak "Nob Noy", which sailed through Sweden, Finland, Germany, U.K.
Kayaking became widespread in Europe in the 1890s.
At the end of the 19th century, German engineer Hermann made the kayak into a fish shape based on his own experience, which greatly increased the speed of the boat.
In 1923, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and other countries formed a working committee, which stipulated that the length of the boat was 5.2 meters and the width was 51 cm.
In January 1924, it was initiated by Denmark, Sweden, France and Austria. The "International Kayak Association", abbreviated as 1.R.K, was established in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, to formulate the constitution of the Congress and the first rules of canoe competition. In the same year, during the 8th Olympic Games held in Paris, France, athletes from Canada and the United States competed in rowing demonstrations on the Seine River.
In 1936, at the 11th Olympic Games held in Berlin, canoeing was listed as an official Olympic sport. A total of 9 events were held, namely men's 1000m single kayak, double kayak, single kayak, double kayak, 10000m single kayak, double kayak, double kayak, and detachable 10,000 meters of single and double kayaks.
At the end of 1952, Beijing's Central Defense Sports Club ordered 4 racing boats and 20 kayaks at the Harbin Inland Shipping Shipyard to build wooden boats with overlapping boards according to Soviet drawings. [3]
In May 1954, the rowing boats and kayaks were transported to Beijing, and water training was conducted in July, with 89 participants. In the same year, the men's 1,000-meter and women's 500-meter kayak competitions were set up at the Beijing Water Games.
In 1955, China trained 193 people and added a 1600-meter relay race to the "Youth Cup" rowing competition.
In 1956, the concave hull appeared again. By 1960, the lateral concave outline reached its apex.
In 1964, the International Federation of Boats formulated the "no concave" rules to standardize the design of boats. But then people designed diamond kayaks.
In 1960, for the 17th Olympic Games in Rome, all 1,000-meter distance competitions were cancelled and the men's 4 x 500-meter kayak relay and women's 500-meter double kayak competition were added.
In 1964, the Tokyo Olympic Games changed the relay race to the men's 1000-meter four-person kayak.
In 1972, fiberglass boats appeared, and in the same year, kayak slalom became an official event for the first time at the 20th Munich Olympic Games.
In 1974, China joined the ISU.
In 1975, China included canoeing in the third National Games and began to participate in the world championships.
In 1976, the Montreal Olympics added the men's 500-meter single, double kayak and rowing events.
In 1979, China began to introduce advanced foreign technology, and the number of kayaking units continued to increase, thus entering a stage of vigorous development.
In 1984, the Los Angeles Olympic Games added the women's 500-meter four-person kayak event.
In 1992, the slalom competition of the 25th Barcelona Olympic Games returned to the Olympic Games.
