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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.Air Max Plus Canada Sale . Bradwell was scheduled to become a free agent Tuesday. Born and raised in Toronto, Bradwell is entering his sixth CFL season, with all six played for his hometown Argonauts. Cheap Air Max Plus . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. http://www.cheapairmaxpluscanada.com/ .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Cheap Air Max Plus Canada . 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Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break.NEW YORK -- Early in the second set of Andy Murrays win over Marcel Granollers, the chair umpire made a plea to spectators inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.Its quite noisy inside here, if you could please help out and keep the volume down that would help the players, she said.The stadiums new $150 million retractable roof certainly kept out the torrential rain that played havoc with the schedule Thursday afternoon at Flushing Meadows, but it also had an undesirable side effect.When the rain came it was certainly loud, Murray said at a news conference. You cant hear anything, really. You could hear the line calls, but not so much when the opponents hitting the ball or even when youre hitting the ball, really, which is tough purely because were not used to it. Thats what makes it challenging.Murray made a fast start to his 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 victory but struggled to close out the opening set. He lost his serve for the first time at this years tournament at around the time when the rain started lashing the roof with the sound magnified inside the 23,771-seat stadium.Granollers took a fifth break point after a 10-minute game to peg Murray back to 5-4 in the opener, before the Scot took his seventh set point after 12 minutes in the next game.We use our ears when we play. Its not just the eyes, the world No. 2 added. It helps us pick up the speed of the ball, the spin thats on the ball, how hard someones hitting it. If we played with our ears covered or with headphones oon, it would be a big advantage if your opponent wasnt wearing them.dddddddddddd Its tricky. You can still do it, but its harder, for sure.Ive played when its been loud, a lot of the stadiums that have temporary roofs, they can be pretty loud when it rains. But it apparently was raining unbelievably hard outside. It seemed that way anyway.Murray is used to playing under a roof at a Grand Slam -- his status as home favourite saw him finish his matches on time on Centre Court at Wimbledon, while frequent rain delays necessitated play on Middle Sunday for the first time since 2004.The players will deal with it. You get used to stuff. As an athlete, thats what you do, said Murray. We adjust to conditions, different conditions every week. Playing in the day to playing in the night is totally different from one day to the next.We change stuff all of the time, but it takes time to adjust and then get used to that. I think thats why everyone is talking about it now, because its something new. Yeah, its just going to take time to adjust.Im sure if the feedback is that, you know, the TV or the spectators arent enjoying the match as much then they will look into it and try and change it. But if its fine on TV, which from what I have heard it is fine on TV -- I dont know what the fans have said about it yet, but the players will adjust. ' ' '