Adam van Koeverden

Adam van Koeverden started kayaking in 1995 at the Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville, Ont. at the age of 13. Now he’s a four-time Olympic medallist and was one of the most recognizable faces of the Canadian Olympic Team at the 2012 Olympic Games. In London, he captured a silver medal in the K-1 1,000m one year after winning gold in the same event at the World Championships.

He was Canada’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where he won a silver medal in the K-1 500 metres. Four years earlier in Athens, van Koeverden captured gold in that event as well as bronze in the K-1 1,000 metres and was chosen to carry our flag at the Closing Ceremonies. His two medals in Athens earned him the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year.

He has won 21 World Cup gold medals. He captured the overall World Cup title each year from 2004 through 2007. In 2007 he went undefeated on the World Cup circuit and in 2008 notched another five World Cup victories in Olympic preparation. Outside of competition, van Koeverden is an athlete ambassador for Right To Play, a humanitarian organization that uses sport and activity to help disadvantaged youth around the world. He is a graduate of McMaster University in Kinesiology, elected class valedictorian.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• Won silver in the K-1 500 metres at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, his third Olympic medal
• Team Canada’s flag bearer for the 2008 Olympic Games
• 2004 Olympic champion (K-1 500m) and bronze medallist (K-1 1,000m) – the first time Canada has won a medal in either event, and the first Canadian athlete to win more than one medal at a Summer Olympic Games since sprinter Donovan Bailey and cyclist Clara Hughes in 1996
• Chosen to be Canada’s flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games
• Five-time world championship medallist winning one gold (2007 K-1 500m), three silver and one bronze
• The 2007 season saw him go undefeated on the World Cup circuit in the six races prior to capturing the world championship title in Germany
• Won the 2004 Male Athlete of the Year (Lou Marsh Award) at the Canadian Sport Awards
• First international competition was the 1999 Junior World Championships in Croatia