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Pau-Pyrénées Whitewater Stadium (french: Stade d'eaux-vives Pau-Pyrénées) is the home training facility for the French national 
The town of Pau has long been a center of activity for French canoe slalom. The natural rapids in the center of town are still equipped with hanging slalom gates. But the sport is increasingly conducted on
canoe slalom
Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is one of th ...
team. It was first used to train the French team for the 2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in Beijing
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Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. It 2009, it was the first of three venues used in the canoe slalom World Cup. It is also a whitewater park for recreational use by the general public.
History and Design
The town of Pau has long been a center of activity for French canoe slalom. The natural rapids in the center of town are still equipped with hanging slalom gates. But the sport is increasingly conducted on artificial whitewater
An artificial whitewater course (AWWC) is a site for whitewater canoeing, whitewater kayaking, whitewater racing, whitewater rafting, playboating and slalom canoeing with artificially generated rapids.
Course types
Main types of course:
Fl ...
, and the presence in Pau of two Olympic medalists, Tony Estanguet
Tony Estanguet (born 6 May 1978 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pau) is a French Canoe slalom, slalom canoeist and a three-time Olympic champion in C1. He competed at the international level from 1994 to 2012.
Racing career
Estanguet won thre ...
and his older brother Patrice Patrice is a given name meaning '' noble'' or '' patrician'', related to the names Patrick and Patricia.
In English, Patrice is often a feminine first name. In French, it is used as a masculine first name.
Popularity
In the United States, the pop ...
, helped to make Pau the site of this new 11.7 million € facility.
It is located beside a small dam upstream from town, where it uses diverted river water supplemented by pumped recirculation when the river's streamflow is low. The artificial channels are lined with boulders embedded in concrete, and the visible instream flow diverters are natural rocks, giving the course a natural appearance, similar to that of the nearby Parc Olímpic del Segre on the Spanish side of the mountains. The moveable plastic bollards common to many such courses are not used here.
2009 & 2012 World Cup
For the July 2009 World Cup race (left), there were 14 downstream gates and 6 upstream gates. Most of the racers backed through downstream gates #3 and #16 in order to set up for upstream gates #4 and #17. For the 2012 race, there were 25 gates for the semi-finals and finals. For the heats, with only 18 gates, the six upstream gates were in the same spots but with lower numbers: 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, & 18. In two places, a barrier was added connecting an island to the right bank and sending all flow around the left side of the island. VideoTony Estanguet 2012
References