The International Canoe Federation is delighted to see 22 paddlers that have benefitted from its development camps shine on the Olympic stage.

It’s been an historic week at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Colombia, Chinese Taipei and Vietnam make their Canoe Sprint debuts at the Games.

Colombian Manuela Gomez Sanchez, Chinese Taipei’s Kuan-Chieh Lai and Vietnamese Thi Huong Nguyen are among those whose Olympic dream have been made possible thanks to the support of the ICF’s Talent Identification Programme (TIP) following their involvement in 2019.

There have been many African beneficiaries of the TIP camps with Angolans Manuel Antonio and Benilson Sanda, Nigerians  Ayomide Powei Bello and Beauty Akinaere Otuedo, Egypt’s Samaa Ahmed, Senegal’s Combe Seck, Morocco’s Achraf Elaidi, Tunisia’s Ghailene Khattali and Sao Tome and Principe’s Herminia Teixeira Santana all featuring at Paris 2024.

Iran’s Mohammad Nabi Rezaei, Uruguay’s Matias Valentin Otero Ezcurra, Cuba’s Jose Ramon Pelier Cordova, Croatia’s Ana Funtak, Moldovans Daniela Cociu and Maria Olarasu and Guam’s Raina Taitingfong are others to have been supported by the ICF’s development programme.

Refugee paddlers Fernando Dayan Jorge Enriquez, Saman Soltani and Saeid Fazloula also participated in camps in the build-up to the Games.

Sao Tome and Principe is competing at another Games after being awarded the universality place with Teixeira Santana following in the footsteps of her brother Buly Da Conceicao Triste who participated in the canoe double 1000m at the past two Games.

“I am proud to represent my country as I have worked hard for this for seven years,” said Teixeira Santana.

“My brother was in the Olympics in Rio and Tokyo. He is a big motivation for me to work in canoeing.”

Seck competed in the women’s canoe single 200m along with Teixeira Santana and has credited the ICF for helping her to reach this stage.

“It’s a real honour,” said the Senegalese paddler, who carried her country’s flag at the Opening Ceremony .

“I was in another world on the water and I’m really happy with my performance.

“The ICF has helped me a lot, sometimes they have even given me a paddle to use and they have helped me in the training camps.

“I am already preparing for the Olympics in 2028.

Elaidi, who competed in the men’s kayak single 1000m, said: “The experience was amazing.

“I feel very proud to be here representing Morocco.

“I have to thank our National Olympic Committee, my family and also the ICF for the TIP programme to help me.”

It was a second Olympic appearance for Egyptian Ahmed who participated in the women’s kayak single 500m.

“It is hard to be an Olympian,” said Ahmed.

“You have to fight for your country, your family and also for myself.

“It’s great to compete with my role models Lisa Carrington and Aimee Fisher.

“I need this stage for my country to show that Egypt can not only compete but make progress every time.”

Khattali hopes that his appearance in Paris will inspire more Tunisians to follow their canoeing dreams.

“I feel proud to have made it here,” said Khattali, who raced in the men’s canoe single 1000m.

“The races were very tough but I am really happy.

“I did my best and have nothing to regret.

“It was such an amazing experience.

“It’s way better than Tokyo because now we could see the fans and my family came to watch me so this is my special for me.

“I had my moment when the camera came to me and I waved to my family and friends.

“I hope I made my country proud.

“Hopefully we will do our best and we will have more than one athlete in Los Angeles as that is four years away.”

ICF Vice President Cecilia Farias said: "The ICF sustainable development programme reached paddlers from all around the world, providing them unique opportunities to learn and share.

"However, that is not all, 22 of them participated at the Olympic Games qualifying in their respective continents.

"This is the best return for the ICF - youth that succeed based on effort and committment.

"We also had the opportunity to see our refugee feam, one of the largest between all the sports, compete on the Olympic course.

"We are satisfied with the work done, and we will continue our programmes towards the next Olympic Games."