In less than four months, seven new venues will stage their first events, providing a taster of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as organisers fine tune their preparations

London 2012 - David Cal Figueroa pulls to a silver medal for Spain in the men’s canoe sprint C1 1000m race at Eton Dorney.

One of 39 Young Change-Makers (YCM, formerly known as Young Ambassadors) at the Winter Youth Olympic Games Lillehammer 2016, 26-year-old Lucie Tuzova is now part of the IOC’s Young Change-Makers+ programme (YCM+), delivering her “Live your Dream” initiative in her native Czech Republic.

Hungary's Danuta Kozak won her second gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and retained her women’s kayak single (K1) 500m title at the Lagoa Stadium on 18 August.

After four days of rowing, on Friday 12 October the action at Urban Park shifted to canoeing and kayaking. And huge crowds, spurred by Argentinian interest, gathered to see Eszter Rendessy of Hungary claim the first gold in women’s K-1 sprint, while Kazakhstan’s Dias Bakhraddin clinched victory in the men’s C-1 competition.

On 21 August 2008, Beijing’s Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park was the venue for the inaugural 10km open water marathon race. The event culminated in a drama-packed sprint between three of the discipline’s giants, Maarten van der Weijden (NED), David Davies (GBR) and Thomas Lurz (GER), with the resilient Dutchman getting his tactics spot on to claim the gold medal.

London 2012 - Athletes are thrilled compete before a large crowd filling the stands at Eton Dorney to watch the C1 canoe sprint 1000m final. Germany’s Sebastian Brendel wins gold, edging out David Cal Figueroa of Spain for silver.