Olympic spectators are flocking to social media in astonishment after discovering something surprising about where competitors’ legs go in a canoe.
If you, like me, have ever been coerced into a family kayaking trip down a river in France—an adventure likely ending in a heated argument and a threat to push someone overboard—you might think you know how people sit in a kayak or canoe. However, you’d be quite mistaken.
Kayaks and canoes are fundamentally different, and you may not have realized that when it comes to Olympic canoeing, things are not as they appear from the waist down.
Clearly, maneuvering a canoe is far more challenging than many assume—after all, it is an Olympic sport. Beyond navigating gushing water and weaving through various poles against the current, you probably didn’t realize how many professional canoeists position themselves.
Or rather, how they don’t position themselves.
A video of French canoeist Doriane Delassus has been posted on Instagram by Planet Canoe with the caption: “Ever wonder how athletes get out of a canoe?”
The video shows Delassus reaching the end of a course and then getting up to exit the canoe. The clip reveals that canoeists aren’t sitting on their bottoms inside the boats but are actually kneeling.
Social media users quickly responded with surprise.
One Instagram user remarked: “You’re telling me that they were on their knees the whole time?!?! For some reason I always assumed that they sat with their legs straight.”
“THEY’RE ON THEIR KNEES?” another added.
A third commented: “Ur supposed to canoe on your knees?!?!!?!!? I never knew that.”
A fourth explained: “On your knees gives you THE MOST control over the canoe/kayak itself. I got a lvl 1 Orcka in white water canoeing (could have been 2 but lazy). You WANT to be on your knees in aggressive water like that. Center of gravity, points of contact bla bla bla.”
For those still puzzled, GoPaddling clarifies: “Canoeing involves sitting or kneeling in an open boat using a paddle with one blade. Whereas in a kayak, you sit down with your legs in front of you, while propelling forward with a double bladed paddle.”
Regarding kneeling, Paddling.com notes: “Kneeling off the seat is a much more stable position. Not only does it lower your center of gravity, but it gives you more intimate contact with, and therefore more control of, the canoe.”
And one final user concluded: “Learning something new everyday.”