Thirty years ago this summer, a coalition of organizations including the U.S. Forest Service, the International Olympic Committee, TVA, the state of Tennessee and Polk County worked tirelessly to prepare the Ocoee River and its Whitewater Center to host canoe and kayaking events for the 1996 Olympic Games. It marked a historical first: Olympic kayaking conducted on a natural riverbed rather than a man-made course. Not many countries, let alone individual states, have ever been recognized as an Olympic venue. Tennessee became the sixth state to ever host an Olympic venue.
Planning, programming and design for the facility began six years prior to the games. State government and local leaders assembled multiple public agencies and the local rafting community to brainstorm ideas for a world-class whitewater course and venue unlike any other.
The goal was ambitious due to site constraints, timing, funding and collaboration of many stakeholders. The mandate was to attract elite paddling athletes and enthusiasts from around the globe to compete on a one-of-a-kind natural river course set within the national forest in Polk County, Tennessee. The hope was to generate short- and long-term economic growth for the region and state.
All of the stakeholders provided some degree of resources in support of developing the venue, such as security and safety by the highway patrol, water release by TVA and design and planning by the Forest Service. But the state and Forest Service clearly provided most of the money to construct the course, building and infrastructure.