By David Owen

Émilie Fer of France won the only women's kayak slalom event at London 2012 ©Getty ImagesNovember 16 - Participation by women in Olympic canoe, as well as kayak, races has moved a step closer, following a meeting in Lima of International Canoe Federation (ICF) directors.

Motions were carried both to support the inclusion of two women's C1 events at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and to "guarantee complete gender equity" across both Olympic disciplines - sprint and slalom - by 2024.

At last year's London 2012 Olympics, women accounted for just five of the 16 events, with canoe racing - in which athletes kneel in their boats and wield a single-bladed paddle - confined to men.

Hungary won two of four women's kayak sprint gold medals, while Émilie Fer of France won the only women's slalom event.

José Perurena, ICF President, said the move was "exceptionally positive for our sport and clarifies our position to ensure equity at every level of competition".

He said that women's C1 in both sprint and slalom had "improved dramatically over the last couple of years and the proposal to include it in the Olympic programme will further support its future development".

The two women's C1 events that might be included at Tokyo are the canoe slalom and the 200m canoe sprint.

These ICF decisions are now to be proposed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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