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Ben Fouhy (born 4 March 1979, Taumarunui) is a New Zealand flatwater canoer who has been competing since the early 2000s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won the silver in the K-1 1000 m event at Athens in 2004.

The recipient of the 2003 Halberg Award for NZ Sportsman of the Year, Fouhy has not since dropped out of the top 5 globally in his sport, and holds the world's fastest time in the K1 1000m event, which he achieved at a 2006 World Cup regatta in Poland.

Career History

Fouhy began kayaking competitively in 2002, following a background in multi-sport events. He discovered an aptitude for paddling after increasing his kayak training to improve his overall multisport performance.

After a handful of domestic wins Fouhy came out of nowhere to take the gold medal at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Gainsville, Georgia, USA, after which he won several Sportsperson of the Year titles including the coveted Halberg Award.

The following year, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, Fouhy achieved New Zealand’s first medal in Kayaking since the 1980s days of New Zealand’s most medaled Olympians, Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald.

Career highlight achievements include:

Gold Medal, Worlds fastest time in K1 1000m - 2006 World Cup regatta, Poland

Bronze Medal in K1 1000m - 2006 World Championships, Szeged, Hungary

Olympic Silver Medal in K1 1000m - 2004 Athens Olympics

Halberg Award - 2003 New Zealand Sportsman of the Year

World Champion K1 1000m - 2003 World Championships, Gainsville George

Bronze Medal in K1 1000m - 2005 World Marathon Championships, Perth

Gold Medal in K1 1000m & K1 500m - 2005 Australian National Championships, Sydney

Gold Medal in K1 1000m - 2004 NZ Sprint National Championships, Auckland

Gold Medal in K2 1000m - 2004 NZ Sprint National Championships, Auckland

Gold Medal in K1 1000m - 2004 English National Championships, Nottingham

Gold Medal in K1 1000m - 2003 World Cup regatta Poznan, Poland

Gold Medal in K1 1000m - 2003 NZ Sprint National Championships, Auckland

Personality

Fouhy is renowned for his focus and candour as a sportsperson.

“Ben Fouhy is focused,” wrote Mark Longley of Player Magazine, “you can see it in his eyes. They burn with the intensity of a winner.”

Described by the media as candid and refreshingly honest, Fouhy displays the uniquely Kiwi willingness to communicate openly and honestly with the media and the public.

Kayaking Developments in New Zealand

Kayaking has had a rich history in New Zealand, especially during the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympics, at which Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald secured their places as New Zealand’s most medaled Olympians.

Despite such successes, kayaking has remained a comparatively low profile sport in New Zealand, making do with less funding, resources and attention than the more successful sports such as rowing.

However, the Beijing Olympics demonstrated a renaissance in Kiwi kayaking, and although no medals were won, Ben and three other New Zealanders were finalists, including Erin Taylor, the first woman to represent New Zealand in kayaking at Olympic level.

As a result of these increased successes, kayaking has earned greater importance in SPARC’s high performance programme, meaning increased funding and resources in the hands of Canoe Racing New Zealand, the body responsible for supporting and developing our most prodigious paddling talent.

For the first time, CRNZ now employ a full time High Performance Manager, Wayne Maher, responsible for providing Ben and others with access to the best resources in equipment, nutrition and medical services – a development that frees Ben up to concentrate more singularly, and confidently, on training.

This significant improvement means that the coming years will provide the best training conditions in Ben’s career to date.

References

• Official website
• Sports-reference.com profile
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936-2007.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936-2007.