[1] However, because of the expense of building artificial rivers and supplying them with water, canoe slalom was missing from the next four Summer Olympics.

[2] The Eiskanal has thus served as the prototype for six Olympic whitewater venues, from 1992 through 2012, and for more than fifty training and competition facilities in eighteen countries (see list).

[3] The Hochablass (High Drain) dam on the north-flowing Lech river south of Augsburg dates back to 1647.

The dam diverts river water into the Hauptstadtbach (Capital Creek) which branches into the many canals of the Augsburg Lech district as it flows through the town.

[1] When the 1972 Olympic Games were awarded to Munich, a plan was devised to create a much steeper artificial whitewater rapid by constructing a 300-meter-long channel connecting the Eiskanal section of Capital Creek directly back to the Lech river.

Since the standard length of a canoe slalom course was later reduced to 250 to 300 meters, major races are now held entirely within the 1971 channel.

The training there, on the world's only other artificial rapid, was so successful that East German paddlers won all four Olympic gold medals in canoe slalom, the only time that has ever happened.

An underwater weir at the top can be raised to block most or all of the flow into the slalom channel from Capital Creek.