Eric M. Giddens (born 8 May 1973 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

) is an American slalom kayaker who competed from the early 1990s to the early 2000s.

Career

Giddens finished 20th in the men's K1 slalom event at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Giddens has been the NBC analyst for both disciplines of canoeing during the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, and

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

World Cup individual podiums

Family and education

A native of Atlanta, Giddens graduated with a degree in environmental biology from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and earned a Ph.D. in oceanography from

Scripps Institution of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for oceanography, ocean and Earth science research ...

. His father is educator

Don Giddens Don P. Giddens was the Dean of the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 2002 to 2011. He is father of Olympic athlete Eric Giddens. In 1999, Giddens was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering fo ...

. His wife,

Rebecca Giddens Rebecca Giddens (née Bennett, born September 19, 1977) is a United States slalom kayaker who competed from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, she won a silver medal in the K1 event in Athens in 2004. Giddens al ...

, won a silver in the women's K1 event at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. They now own a

brewpub Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

Kernville, California Kernville is a census-designated place (CDP) in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Kern County, California, United States. Kernville is located northeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of . The population was 1,395 at the 2010 census, down from 1,7 ...

References

1973 births American male canoeists Canoeists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets athletes Scripps Institution of Oceanography alumni Living people Olympic canoeists for the United States Sportspeople from Atlanta {{US-canoe-bio-stub