Sporting Career
He won a bronze medal in the K-1 1000 m at the 1999 world junior championships in Zagreb, Croatia, and then became world junior marathon champion in 2000. His first success as a senior came with a silver medal at the 2003 world championships in Gainesville, Georgia in the men's K-1 1000 m event. At the 2004 Summer Olympics Van Koeverden won two medals, including a gold in the K-1 500 m and a bronze in the K-1 1000 m. He was Canada's flag bearer at the closing ceremonies and was later awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete of 2004. He is the current 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the K-1 1000 event.
In 2005, van Koeverden won two medals at the 2005 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia: a silver in the K-1 1000 m and a bronze in the K-1 500 m. At the 2006 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, van Koeverden finished fourth in both the K-1 500 m and 1000 m finals. At the 2006 Canadian Sprint Canoe Championships in Regina, Saskatchewan, he won five gold medals (K-1 1000 m, K-2 1000 m, K-4 1000 m, K-4 200 m, and War Canoe), and two silver medals (K-1 200 m and K-2 200 m).
Van Koeverden had great success on the World Cup circuit in 2007, going undefeated over both 500 m and 1000 m in three competitions. At the 2007 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany, van Koeverden won the gold medal in the K-1 500 m and the silver medal in the K-1 1000 m.
Van Koeverden beat his own world record in the K-1 500 m at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a time of 1:35.554. He finished 8th place in the 1000m race, and finished with a silver medal in the K-1 500 m race. Originally, he had been listed as bronze medalist, until the scoreboard was corrected to indicate he had finished second. van Koeverden had lead most of the way from the start, but was overtaken by the Australian winner Ken Wallace at the finish line, with British bronze medallist Tim Brabants ending in a photo finish with him.
In the leadup to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, van Koeverden was named flag bearer for the Canadian Olympic team at the opening ceremonies.
At the 2009 world championships in Dartmouth, he won a bronze medal in the K-1 1000 m event. The following year, he won another bronze, only this time it was in the K-1 500 m event. Continuing to build on these achievements at the world's, van Koeverden went to the 2011 world championships competing in his favourite event the K-1 1000 m, where he finally won gold and also qualified himself to compete in the same event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2012 London Olympics he got silver medal, where Norway's Eirik Verås Larsen won Gold Medal in Conoe Sprint's Kayak Single (K1) 1000m event.
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