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Home » Portfolio » Ocoee Olympic Course

Upper Ocoee River: Near Chattanooga, TN

A NATURAL RIVER ELEVATED TO OLYMPIC CALIBRE

The Site of the 1996 Olympic Whitewater Competition – At the 1996 Summer Olympics, history was made as canoe and kayak competitors battled for medals in the first Olympic whitewater course built in an active river channel.

If water could tell the story about its journey from the mountains to the sea, its travel through the Ocoee Whitewater Center would be the most exciting part.

- Joe Jacobi, 1992 Olympic gold Medal Winner (Men's Double Canoe)

Innovative Stabilization Techniques – From nature’s original design, Rick McLaughlin and John Anderson re-engineered the Ocoee’s bed into the biggest and most challenging whitewater course in the nation. In the process, they developed innovative grouted boulder techniques now used by engineers across the country.

Demanding Requirements for an Olympic Course – The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and the USDA Forest Service wanted an Olympic course that would look good, work well and stay put. The new whitewater course had to be…

  • Natural- looking, to create interest for this otherwise unappealing section of river
  • Challenging for elite whitewater athletes
  • Permanently low-maintenance
  • Capable of withstanding floods which easily move four foot boulders. The adjacent highway had washed out numerous times, and project managers worried that building the course might further destabilize the road embankment.

The Ocoee Olympic venue was a resounding success, and a complement to the river’s environment and surrounding communities:

“This is without a doubt the most fantastic whitewater slalom course in the world.”
— Albert Woods, former Chairman of the International Canoe Federation

The course was not only strong enough to resist flooding, but blended seamlessly into the adjacent geological features,” said Paul Wright, U.S. Forest Service Project Director. “The competitive channel has the appearance of a natural riverbed, but with strength and stability that even nature does not provide.” As such, the course represents the ultimate in a man made “roughened channel” design. Never before or since has a man made channel replicated a river more naturally.

“The course has sustained almost no damage since its construction, surviving numerous floods.”
— Jerry Barrow, USDAFS Project Engineer

Services Provided (under sub-contract with the Pickering Firm, Atlanta, Georgia) – Alternative Development / Public Input / Conceptual and Preliminary Design / Physical Model  / Construction Services

Visit the 1996 Olympic Whitewater Center site for more information.

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Portfolio

  • Confluence Park
  • Adventure Sports Center Intl
  • Horseshoe Bend
  • Tulsa Whitewater Park
  • Ocoee Olympic Course
  • Dickerson Whitewater
  • Sacandaga River
  • Falls of the Neuse
  • North Fork American River
  • Nantahala River
  • Gunnison River
  • Mississippi River
  • Chattahoochee River Restoration
  • Green River Wyoming
  • Boise River Recreation Park
  • River Run Park – South Platte River

About MWDG

The McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group brings decades of hydraulics and outdoor recreation leadership and expertise to the design and development of whitewater venues, led by the principals from our parent company, now McLaughlin Water Engineers, Ltd.

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303-964-3333

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