The Ocoee Whitewater Center, near Ducktown, Tennessee, United States, was the canoe slalom venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and is the only in-river course to be used for Olympic slalom competition. A 1,640 foot stretch of the Upper Ocoee River was narrowed by two-thirds to create the drops and eddies needed for a slalom course. Today, the course is watered only on summer weekends, 34 days a year, for use by guided rafts and private boaters. When the river has water, 24 commercial rafting companies take more than 750 raft passengers through the course each day.
Scale model, 1:10, built to study proposed narrowing of the Upper Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympic games.
Riverbed before construction, with lines showing proposed new shorelines.
Finish line for 1996 Olympics. Midstream camera is mounted on the boulder in Humongous Rapid.
Ducktown is a city in Polk County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 461 at the 2020 census and 475 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Buildings along Main Street in Ducktown
A train bringing copper ore out of the Ducktown mines, 1939. Smelter fumes have destroyed all vegetation and eroded the land. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott.
View across Ducktown, with Big Frog Mountain in the distance
