Halfway through the Paris 2024 Games, tributes and congratulations are already multiplying for Tony Estanguet. The International Canoe Federation (ICF), of which the Frenchman was vice-president, took advantage of the start of the kayak cross competition, Friday August 2, to recall in a press release the role played by the three-time C1 Olympic champion slalom in the entry of the discipline into the Olympic program. A role " determining ", according to the ICF, in the development of an event born only ten years ago. The body recalls that Tony Estanguet was vice-president when discussions on the creation of kayak cross began. He contributed greatly, with the ICF canoe slalom committee, to taking the discipline from an idea to an official event present this year for the first time at the Olympic Games. Kayak cross appeared for the first time as a demonstration during the slalom World Cup in Pau in 2015, at the invitation of Tony Estanguet. Two years later, it made its debut at the world championships, again in Pau, the hometown of the COJO Paris 2024 president.
