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Whitewater churns into foam as double-ended paddles windmill one-person boats into position. The paddles go up in the air as the boats slide through red or green gates, then the furious wind milling begins again.For a sport that doesnt get the attention of some of the more well-known ones, whitewater canoe and kayak has plenty of action and drama.A few things to look for in whitewater canoe/kayak at the Rio Olympics next month:THE LOWDOWN: The four canoe/kayak slalom events will be held Aug. 7-11, with medals award the final three days. Men compete in single and double canoe, along with kayak. Women compete in kayak only. The races will take place at the Whitewater Stadium in Deodoro on a steep 250-meter course that has between 18 and 25 gates. Green gates are negotiated with the current, red against it. Paddlers are assessed a two-second penalty for hitting a gate and 50 seconds for missing one completely.EUROPEAN DOMINANCE: European countries have dominated the sport since its inception at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and show no signs of letting loose of their stranglehold. In mens canoe slalom (C1), European counties have won every medal but one since the 1992 Barcelona Games, when the sport was put back into the Olympic program after a 20-year absence. Europe has accounted for all but one medal in kayak (K1) and 16 of 18 medals in two-person canoe (C2) during that span. Women have had a little better chance breaking through the European stronghold, with paddlers from the U.S. and Australia combining for six of the 18 medals since Barcelona.AMERICAN MEN: The United States team has two paddlers with solid chances to earn medals in Rio. Kayaker Michal Smolen, who emigrated from Poland as a child, was unable to compete at the 2012 London Games due to questions about his citizenship, but should make a strong run to the podium this time around. Smolen earned bronze at the 2015 world championships and has times that compare to the best paddlers in the world. Not bad for someone who was terrified of the water when he first started kayaking at 8. Canoeist Casey Eichfield will be competing in his third straight Olympics and will try to pull off a double, competing in C1 and C2 with Devin McEwan. Eichfield finished fourth at world championships and was in the top 15 his previous two Olympics.NEES RELIEF: Womens kayaker Ashley Nee had a rough road to her first Olympics. She qualified for the 2008 Beijing Games, but injured a shoulder during a test event and wasnt able to completely recover in time for the Olympic trials, finishing fourth. Nee had enough points to qualify for the 2012 London Games, but was edged out by Caroline Queen on a tiebreaker. Nee won the Olympic trials this May, yet still didnt have a spot secured; she had to await a decision by the International Canoe Federation to award the United States an additional athlete quota spot. Now at 27, shes headed to her first Olympics.C1 OPENING: Mens single canoe has been dominated by two paddlers the past five Olympics: Michal Martikan of Slovakia and Frances Tony Estanguet. Starting with the 1996 Atlanta Games, those two won every gold medal in C1; three by Estanguet and two by Martikan. There will be a different champion in Rio after Estanguet retired and Martikan, the only canoe slalomist to win five Olympic gold medals, failed to make the Slovakian team for Rio.KEEP AN EYE ON: Kayaker Jiri Prskavec of the Czech Republic is the type of paddler who could be uncatchable if hes on his game. His father, Jiri, was a two-time Olympian and the younger Prskavec has a chance to make bigger waves in Rio. He was the 2015 world champion and has five medals in world championship competition. Custom Barry Larkin Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Reds Jerseys China . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. http://www.customredsjersey.com/custom-reggie-sanders-jersey-large-282w.html . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Cheap Reds Jerseys .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. Custom Reds T-shirts . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game.Graeme Souness was left in awe of Leicester City after their spirited 1-1 draw at Manchester United moved them to within two points of the Premier League title. Claudio Ranieris men travelled to Old Trafford on Sunday knowing victory would seal an unprecedented maiden top-flight crown, but they had to withstand an early onslaught from the hosts, who were looking to strengthen their bid for Champions League qualification.Anthony Martial established Uniteds dominance on eight minutes, stroking Antonio Valencias cross beyond Kasper Schmeichel, but - as they have done so often throughout their remarkable campaign - Leicester hauled themselves back into the game through captain Wes Morgan. The result means Leicester will be crowned champions if second-placed Tottenham fail to win at Chelsea on Monday Night Football, and Souness was left to praise a performance he felt typified the Foxes season.Its incredibly hard to be anything other than utterly complimentary about this team, Souness told Super Sunday. How many Leicester players at the end of last season were negotiating clauses in their contracts in case they qualified for the Champions League, or won the Premier League? None of them!Their bonus would have been for avoiding relegation. Its really hard not to be totally in awe of this team. Morgan admitted Leicester had to work very hard for a point It was a typical Leicester performance today.dddddddddddd Theyve ended up with 30 percent possession yet, watching the game, it didnt feel like that.Theyve come to one of the worlds greatest football stadiums today and were not intimidated. They went a goal behind and showed real character and togetherness to get back into it. It’s really hard not to be totally in awe of this team. Somehow they come up with a way of getting a result. Graeme Souness on Leicester City United were fabulous for a good half an hour but after that, Leicester came back. The so-called smaller team fell behind to the bigger team but, to a man, none of them threw the towel in.You could see them grinding themselves back into the game and in the second half, they were the better team. That 90 minutes typifies what Leicesters season has been all about. When adversity comes, they deal with it. Somehow they come up with a way of getting a result.Watch Chelsea v Tottenham live on Monday Night Football, 7pm, Sky Sports 1 HD Also See: United make Leicester wait As it happened Souness: Fellaini wont escape ban Ranieri: I wont be watching ' ' '