By Sean Henahan, Access Excellence

ATLANTA (7/25/96) The Ocoee river will make history at the Olympics as the first natural river ever to serve as the site for the whitewater canoe and kayak competition events. But human engineers have also added their own historic contributions to the otherwise natural rapids.

Approximately 130 athletes from 26 countries will compete in the Olympic whitewater events on the Ocoee. Some 14,000 spectators are expected each day of the sold out three-day event.

The whitewater events are actually being held on the Ocoee river in Tennessee, not Georgia. Olympic planners initially were faced with a serious problem- the best section of the river for whitewater competition was downstream and inaccessible to spectators during the Games. A more convenient site was found upstream, but that stretch of river was judged ill-suited for the competition after tests showed it would take too much water released from upstream reservoirs to fill the wide river and generate Olympic-class whitewater.

Then the engineers stepped in. They determined that the best way to create more speed with less water was to narrow the river. What they did not know was how the river would respond. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) engineers, Mark Mobley and Paul Wolff led the project to reengineer the Ocoee river. They first created a 300-foot scale model of the river bed. The model became the basis for the "new" river--suitable for competitors and spectators alike.

"One of the traditional roles of the TVA Engineering Lab is constructing scale models for spillways, navigation channels and water locks," said Mobley, "As an avid kayaker myself, the opportunity to construct this model for an Olympic venue in my own backyard was a dream project for a local boy."

"There is no question that reconstructing a riverbed is a monumental task. I can't think of any other project, with a similar purpose, of this magnitude," added Dr. Terry Sturm, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech research staff have also made it possible for Olympic fans who can't attend the whitewater competition to experience the venue from the comfort of home. They developed a realistic, multi-media video simulation of the Ocoee River, complete with a simulated plane trip from Atlanta to the venue. Nick Faust, a principal research scientist at Tech used satellite data and aerial photographs to create a computer animation video which flies from the skyscrapers of Atlanta, through rural North Georgia, over the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and into the Ocoee River Valley. When television coverage shifts from Atlanta to the whitewater site, viewers can take the nearly 100-mile virtual trip in less than 30 seconds.

The event is being billed locally as a major accomplishment by 'local boys'. Not only was the course engineered by graduates from Georgia Tech from plans simulated in laboratories at the school- a Georgia Tech student Scott Shipley, is considered a contender for the Gold, coached by alumni of, where else, Georgia Tech.

"When we first looked at this site, we said there is no way this would ever be world-class whitewater. Then we got here and got our butts kicked," said Shipley, current World Cup Kayak champion.