ACOG - News - IBM

(3 August 1996; Day 15)

For Germany, Three's a Charm in Sprint Finals

(From L-R) Germans Birgit Fischer, Anett Schuck, Ramona Portwich and Manuela Mucke celebrate after crossing the finish line to win the gold medal in the women's Olympic fours kayak 500m competition at Lake Lanier, near Atlanta, 03 August. Switzerland won the silver medal and Sweden the bronze medal. AFP/DPA/Ralf HIRSCHBERGER

(From L-R) Germans Thomas Reineck, Mark Zabel, Detlef Hofmann and Olaf Winter celebrate as they cross the finish line to win the Olympic gold medal in the men's fours kayak 1000m competition at Lake Lanier, outside Atlanta, 03 August. Hungary won the silver medal and Russia won bronze. AFP/DPA/Ralf HIRSCHBERGER

Spectators at Saturday's canoe/kayak sprint finals, may go home with a new tune stuck in their heads - and it may be one, to which they don't even know the words. The German national anthem became the highly requested song of the day as the ever-powerful Germany captured three gold and a silver medal at Lake Lanier. Over the past week, Germany qualified all twelve of its boats for the finals and medals were what each boat had set as its goal. On Saturday, the women's kayak four 500m, men's canoe double 1000m and men's kayak four 1000m, met those goals as they each had their chance to take the place on top of the awards podium.

In the men's kayak single 1000m and canoe single 1000m, it looked as if Germany would "just miss" all day as Lutz LIWOWSKI and Patrick SCHULZE each took fourth in their respective races. However, the tides changed for the Germans as the women's kayak four 500m, earned the first German gold medal of the day with a nearly 2 second win over their rivals and defending Olympic Champions, Hungary. The team of Birgit FISCHER, Anett SCHUCK, Ramona PORTWICH and Manuela MUCKE, improved upon their silver medal performance in Barcelona to take first, and the win gave four-time Olympian FISCHER her fifth gold medal.

"We had to change our race plan due to the wind from the back. So we went down here with a higher frequency. We trained with very different conditions, and so that was no big problem," said FISCHER. "It is very beautiful to win," continued FISCHER. "But there are other things in life just as beautiful like the birth of my two children."

The German men's four kayak team (front) nears the finish line of their Olympic 1000m kayak race to win the gold medal at Lake Lanier, near Atlanta, 03 August, with a time of 2:51.52. Hungary won the silver medal, and Russia took bronze. (FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY) AFP PHOTO/IOPP Anja NIEDRINGHAUS

PORTWICH believes it is hard to compare an Olympic gold medal to all the other accolades the team has won. "I would never compare it to another win. Every moment is something very special when you win any medal."

The men's canoe double 1000m team of Andreas DITTMER and Gunar KIRCHBACH, had one of those special moments as they edged the Romanian boat of Marcel GLAVAN and Antonel BORSAN by a mere .424 for the chance to don the gold.

"We succeeded in following our race plan in the final," said DITTMER. "We didn't want to lose much to the other boats in the first 500m and we were able to keep in contact with them and advance at the end of the race."

With the help of their fellow women teammates, the men's kayak four 1000m team of Detlef HOFMANN, Thomas REINECK, Olaf WINTER and Mark ZABEL notched one more high honor for Germany.

"We watched the women in the K4 win and that pushed us to the final," said WINTER. "It was very motivating for us."

The foursome, who became complete last March with the addition of WINTER, waited until the final 250 meters of the race to propel themselves through the rest of the field and successfully defend Germany's 1992 Olympic gold in the event. REINECK is the only member of the four-man team that also raced in Barcelona.

"I am really happy to get my second gold medal in the K4," said REINECK. "We have built this team over the last two years and in March of 1996, Olaf (WINTER) joined us. We trained a lot and it went really well. We each had very good single achievements and we found we were successful together."

Not to be overlooked, Kay BLUHM and Torsten GUTSCHE added a silver medal to the gold collected by Germany with a second-place finish in the men's kayak double 1000m event.

On Sunday, the final day of sprint canoe/kayak races, Germany will have six more boats in search of gold, each with hopes of standing on the podium with medals around their necks, and the chance to say, " Hey, they're playing our song."

This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by M. Lynne Bragg.


Return to Olympic News Menu

Select another day:
Pre July 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 August 1 2 3 4 Post


Olympic Factoid
More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined.