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  The first canoe sprint competitions date from the middle of the 19th century

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  Before its introduction to the Olympic programme in Berlin 1936, sprint canoeing featured at the Paris 1924 Games as a demonstration sport

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  Women's events were introduced at the London 1948 Games

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  At Seoul 1988, Greg Barton (USA) and Grant Davies (Australia) provided one of the sport's most exciting finishes: the North American won the K–1 1000m by less than 1cm

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  At London 2012, New Zealander Lisa Carrington won the K–1 200m to become the first non-European women's Olympic canoe sprint champion

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  German paddlers have won the most medals in the canoe sprint, with 40 golds, 29 silvers and 26 bronzes in the sport's Olympic history

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  Birgit Fisher (Germany) is the athlete with the highest number of Olympic medals: 8 golds and 4 silvers in a 24-year Olympic career between 1980 and 2004

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  During the event, the distance between canoes must be at least 5m to avoid turbulence from one boat affecting another

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  Boats are identified by the letter 'K' (kayak) and 'C' (canoe), followed by a number indicating how many paddlers there are, and the distance of the event