Ernie Riedel

Ernie Riedel is probably the greatest kayaker the United States has yet produced. But canoeing did not become an Olympic sport until 1936 and when the war intervened in 1940 and 1944, Riedel missed what might have been his best Olympic years. Still, his bronze medal is the only medal won by an American in kayak events. Riedel’s canoeing victories are too numerous to fully enumerate. Briefly he won 33 national championships, mostly in kayak, although he occasionally raced in the Canadian events. In a yearly international race held against Canada, Riedel won 18 times between 1923 and 1947. Although by then he was 47 years old, he also raced in the 1948 Olympics.