Men's Kayak Single (K1) 1000m
Revenge "Good as Gold" for HOLMANN
At the 1992 Olympic Games, Knut HOLMANN of Norway finished second, only .24 behind Australia's Clint Robinson. Four years later, HOLMANN had his revenge as he added a gold medal to his collection, capturing first-place honors in the men's kayak single 1000m event. With a world best time of 3:25.785, HOLMANN edged Italy's Beniamino BONOMI by 1.288 for the gold medal, while ROBINSON was forced to settle for the bronze. HOLMANN, the reigning world champion in the event, started strong and was able to maintain the pace throughout the sprint. BONOMI had clocked the fastest times in the heat and semifinal, but was over-powered by HOLMANN in the final.
"The start was very good," said Norway's Knut HOLMANN. "I felt very strong, especially in the last 250 meters. I really thought the last 250 meters would have been harder."
Both HOLMANN (K1 500m) and BONOMI (K2 500m) will compete in Sunday's finals.
DOKTOR Finds Cure for Victory
Martin DOKTOR of the Czech Republic, got a good jump and took the early lead in the men's canoe single 1000m. He never looked back as he ousted three-time Olympic veteran Ivan KLEMENTYEV of Latvia for the gold medal. With a time of 3:54.418, DOKTOR defeated the Latvian by only a half of a second, while bronze medalist Gyorgy ZALA of Hungary finished nearly 2 seconds back of the Czech. DOKTOR was the silver medalist in the 1995 World Championships and was victorious at Mechelen, Belgium earlier this year. KLEMENTYEV was the 1993-94 World Champion in the 1000m event, and has won the World Championship title representing three different countries, Latvia, Poland and the USSR.
"I got a quick start. I have worked on the start because this is weak for me," said Ivan KLEMENTYEV. "I followed my race plan and in the last 250 meters went as hard as I could. But Martin (DOKTOR) was faster."
DOKTOR will compete in the canoe single 500m final on Sunday.
Germany Four Powers to Gold
The German boat of Birgit FISCHER, Anett SCHUCK, Ramona PORTWICH and Manuela MUCKE bettered their silver medal performance in Barcelona to capture the gold in 1996 in the women's kayak four 500m. The reigning three-time world champions dominated the sprint with a time of 1:31.077 and outdistanced their closest competitor, Switzerland by almost 2 seconds. It was deja vu for the Swedish team as the 1992 bronze medalists had a repeat performance in Atlanta and finished third with a time of 1:32.917. It was a surprisingly good Olympic competition for Switzerland who finished seventh at the world championships, their best showing in international competition. The boat advanced to the finals directly from the preliminaries. The defending gold medalist Hungary team finished in a disappointing ninth place.
"We had to change our race plan due to the wind from the back," said Germany's Birgit FISCHER. "So we went down here with a higher frequency. We trained with very different kinds of conditions, and so that was no big problem."
Italians Do It Better for Gold
The Italian team of Antonio ROSSI and Daniele SCARPA proved a lot can happen in four years as the duo prevailed in the final of the men's kayak double 1000m to dethrone the 1992 gold medalists Kay BLUHM and Torsten GUTSCHE of Germany for the title. The Germans finished 1.328 back of the world champion Italian team to earn the silver medal while the Bulgarian boat of Andrian DUSHEV and Milko KAZANOV sat 2 seconds back to take home the bronze.
"The race went very well. We are very happy. It went according to plan," said Italy's Daniele SCARPA. "We'd like to thank everyone who helped us get here. Being part of the team is more important than gold medals."
German Men Capture Second Gold of Sprint Competition
Just two races after their fellow German teammates captured the gold in the women's kayak four event, Andreas DITTMER and Gunar KIRCHBACH (3:31.870) followed suit and tallied Germany's second gold of the day in the men's canoe double 1000m race. The race proved to be one of the most exciting of the first day of finals as the top three teams finished within 1 second of each other. The Romanian boat of Marcel GLAVAN and Antonel BORSAN, silver medalists at the 1995 World Championships, finished at 3:32.294 to take the silver and the Hungarian team of two-time world championship team of Gyorgy KOLONICS and Csaba HORVATH posted a time of 3:32.514, only .644 off the lead pace for the bronze. DITTMER and KIRCHBACH were the 1994 World Champions in the event and in Duisburg in 1995, ranked third.
"We succeeded in following our race plan in the final," said Germany's Andreas DITTMER. "We didn't want to lose to much to the other boats in the first 500m and we were able to keep in contact with them and advance to first at the end of the race."
Day for the Germans as Four Takes Gold
The German men's kayak four 1000m team capped off an incredible day for their country in the sprint events as they won the gold, Germany's third top honor of the day. The team of Thomas REINECK, Mark ZABEL, Detlef HOFMANN and Olaf WINTER, made their move in the final 250 meters to overtake the Hungarian boat and achieve the gold medal standing. The German boat are the defending 1992 gold medalists as well as the world champions; however, only REINBECK remains from the Barcelona boat. Hungary is no stranger to being one step behind the Germans as the Hungarians took second at the 1992 Olympic Games and took silver at the 1995 World Championships. The bronze medal went to Russia with a time of 2:53.184, a good showing for the boat as their top international finish was eighth in Duisburg.
"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," said Thomas REINECK. "We each had very good single achievements and we found we were successful together."
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| The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July). |