Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-23 16:41:51

(BEIJING, August 23) — By the narrowest of margins, Inna Osypenko-Radomska finished first in the Women’s Kayak Single (K1) 500 meter final on Saturday, August 23. The Ukrainian paddler clocked 1:50.673 minutes, just 0.004 seconds in front of Josefa Idem of Italy, who won the silver medal.

Idem won the gold medal in this event at Sydney, and also finished second at Athens.

Germany’s Katrin Wagner-Augustin finished third with a time of 1:51.022 minutes for the bronze. This is her first medal in the K1 500m event, after finishing fourth in Athens. She won a gold in Friday’s K4 500m with the German team.

Favorite Katalin Kovacs of Hungary came in 0.446 seconds behind the first place Osypenko-Radomska which was only good enough for fourth place, and the 2007 world champion and reigning World Cup winner in this event for two years running again missed the Olympic medal for the K1 500m. Her team won silver in the K4 500m final on Friday.

Osypenko-Radomska has also never won a medal in the K1 500m before, but she did finish first in the August 21 semifinal. She came in fifth in this event at the 2008 European Championship, and fourth in the 2007 World Championship. In Athens, she was part of the bronze-winning K4 500m team.

Updated: 2008-08-23 16:28:22

Maxim Opalev celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 23) — Russia’s Maxim Opalev finished first in the Men’s Flatwater Canoe Single (C1) 500 meter final with 1:47.140 minutes. Spain’s David Cal came in second, 1.257 seconds behind Opalev, and third place went to Ukraine’s Iurii Cheban.

Cal and Opalev took silver and bronze in this event in 2004. Cal won the same title again but Opalev progressed to better achievement.

It’s also a big success for Cheban, who ranked only 15th in Athens.

Cal, Cheban and Opalev ranked third, fourth and fifth at the halfway mark, but Opalev was the fastest to cover the latter half and won gold. Cal and Cheban went ahead of France’s Mathieu Goubel to claim silver and bronze.

Goubel and Belarus’ Aliaksandr Zhukovski ranked second and first in the first half, but fell behind to the fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Updated: 2008-08-23 16:23:09

Ken Wallace of Australia (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 23) — Australia’s Ken Wallace pulled ahead at end of the course to win the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Kayak Single (K1) 500 meter final on Saturday, August 23.

Wallace took a bronze medal in Friday’s K1 1000m final. The 25-year-old has been performing well in recent years, but few believed he would take gold in this 500m competition with so many world class paddlers competing.

The most famous of the Wallace’s opponents is defending champion Adam van Koeverden of Canada, who took three K1 500m gold medals in the 2008 ICF World Cup series. He was unstoppable before going into this tournament, but his winning run came to an abrupt end, finishing eighth in the K1 1000m final on Friday.

In Saturday’s final, van Koeverden led the race for about 400 meters, but couldn’t get away from Wallace who followed closely behind. In the final burst, both kayakers put out their best effort, and Wallace passed the finishing line in 1:37.252 minutes with a decisive final stroke, just 0.378 seconds ahead van Koeverden.

Friday’s K1 1000m winner Tim Brabants of Great Britain placed seventh after 250m, but caught up in the last 50m and took a bronze medal clocking 1:37.671 minutes.

Athens K1 1000m gold medalist Eirik Veras Larsen placed fourth, only 0.697 seconds behind Wallace.

Updated: 2008-08-22 21:13:58

Kayak paddlers of Belarus (front) compete. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich compete. (Photo credit: Jiang Enyu/Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 22) — Belarus and Germany each took two medals apiece in the six medal races in Canoe/Kayak Flatwater on Friday, August 22. While Germany is an old paddling powerhouse, Belarus managed to win its first two gold medals in this event in back-to-back finals.

Men’s Kayak Single (K1) 1000m

Great Britain’s Tim Brabants claimed gold, defending Olympic champion Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway finished second and Australia’s Ken Wallace won bronze.

Athens silver medalist Ben Fouhy of New Zealand came in fourth and K2 1000m champion in Athens, Sweden’s Markus Oscarsson, finished sixth.

Men’s Canoe Single (C1) 1000m

Hungary’s Attila Sandor Vajda won gold, followed by Spain’s David Cal in second place and Canada’s Thomas Hall in third.

Germany’s Andreas Dittmer, a three-time gold medal winner in Olympic canoe events, ranked eighth of the nine competitors.

Women’s Kayak Four (K4) 500m

Defending champion team Germany successfully grabbed the title again under the effort of the four paddlers Fanny Fischer, Nicole Reinhardt, Katrin Wagner-Augustin and Conny Wassmuth. Athens silver claimer Hungary clinched second place, and members of the team are Katalin Kovacs, Gabriella Timea Szabo, Danuta Kozak and Natasa Janic. Australia’s Lisa Oldenhof, Hannah Davis, Chantal Meek and Lyndsie Fogarty took the bronze.

Men’s K2 1000m

German pair Martin Hollstein and Andreas Ihle won gold, followed by Denmark’s Kim Wraae Knudsen and Rene Holten Poulsen and the bronze pair Italy’s Andrea Facchin and Antonio M. Scaduto.

Men’s C2 1000m

Defending Olympic champion Christian Gille and Tomasz Wylenzek of Germany failed to grab gold again. The honor instead was taken by the Belarus pair Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich, who edged the German duo to second place. Bronze went to Hungary’s Gyorgy Kozmann and Tamas Kiss.

Men’s K4 1000m

Belarus’ Raman Piatrushenka, Aliaksei Abalmasau, Artur Litvinchuk and Vadzim Makhneu claimed gold. Richard Riszdorfer, Michal Riszdorfer, Erik Vlcek and Jurai Tarr of Slovakia took silver. Two-time silver claimer Germany finished third, its team included Lutz Altepost, Norman Brockl, Torsten Eckbrett and Bjorn Goldschmidt.

Updated: 2008-08-22 20:42:15

Kayak paddlers of Belarus (front) compete. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Belarus claimed gold in the Men’s Kayak Four (K4) 1000m in 2:55.714 at the Beijing Olympics on Friday.

Slovakia took silver with a time of 2:56.593, and Germany won bronze in 2:56.676.

Kayak paddlers of Belarus (front) compete. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Kayak paddlers of Belarus (front) celebrate. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-08-22 20:08:04

(BEIJING, August 22) — All Canoe/Kayak Flatwater competition will come to an end with six gold medals on Saturday, August 23. Many competitors who paddled for 1000 meter finals in their respective events on Friday will now try for medals in the 500 meter course.

Men’s Kayak Single (K1) 500 meter

3:30 p.m. (UTC/GMT

This final gives the K1 1000m finalists who competed on Friday a chance to rendezvous once more. Beijing K1 1000m gold medalist Tim Brabants of Great Britain, silver medalist Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway, bronze medalist Ken Wallace of Australia, seventh place Stjepan Janic and eighth place Adam van Koeverden of Canada will all gather again one day after finishing that final to compete for medals on a shorter K1 500m course.

Men’s Canoe Single (C1) 500 meter

3:45 p.m. (UTC/GMT

Again, some familiar faces will return in this race. Spain’s David Cal took a silver medal in the previous day’s C1 1000m, which means this final will be his last chance to win a gold medal. His best rival could be Russia’s Maxim Opalev, who took a silver in Athens and a bronze in Sydney.

Women’s Kayak Single (K1) 500 meter

4:20 p.m. (UTC/GMT

All spotlights will focus on 43-year-old seven-time Olympian Josefa Idem who has taken four medals, including a gold in Sydney. Germany’s Katrin Wagner-Augustin won a gold medal with her team in K4 500m already in Beijing. She will be hoping for her second gold medal in this tournament. Katalin Kovacs of Hungary took a silver in the K4 500m final on Friday, and will be looking to improve upon the color of her medal in this final.

Men’s Kayak Double (K2) 500 meter

4:35 p.m. (UTC/GMT

Defending champions Ronald Rauhe and Tim Wieskötter of Germany are favored to win this race. They have to face challenges from Danish pair Kim Wraae Knudsen and Rene Holten Poulsen, and Italian pair Andrea Facchin and Antonio Massimiliano Scaduto, who placed second and third in the K2 1000m final on Friday. Belarusian pair Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu who won a medal with their team in the K4 1000m also have a shot at the gold.

Men’s Canoe Double (C2) 500 meter

5:05 p.m. (UTC/GMT

China’s Yang Wenjun and Meng Guanliang are likely to defend their title in this race. Their fiercest rival would be Christian Gille and Tomasz Wylenzek of Germany who finished second in the C2 1000m final on Friday. Belarus’Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich just won C2 1000m final and may likely to carry their winning form to the C2 500m

Women’s Kayak Double (K2) 500 meter

5:20 p.m. (UTC/GMT

Defending champion Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Janic are favored to retain their title. However, they have to defeat Germany’s Fanny Fischer and Nicole Reinhardt who surpassed them in the K4 500m final. Poland’s Beata Mikolajczyk and Aneta Konieczna also have a good chance to win a medal.

Updated: 2008-08-22 18:14:56

The Belarusian team in the final (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 22) — The Belarusian team won the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Kayak Four (K4) 1000 meter final on Friday, August 22.

Led by Athens K2 500m bronze medalists Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu, the team stayed in front of the race from start to end. Along with team members Aliaksei Abalmasau and Artur Litvinchuk, the Belarus paddlers passed the finish line first with a time of 2:55.714 minutes.

This is not only the second gold medal won by Belarus on Friday, but also Belarus’ second Canoe/Kayak gold medal in Olympic history. Just 15 minutes earlier, Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich made the breakthrough for Belarus by winning the K2 1000m final.

The Slovakia team comprised of Richard Riszdorfer, Michal Riszdorfer, Erik Vlcek and Juraj Tarr trailed 0.879 seconds behind the winners. These four paddlers took a bronze medal in Athens.

The German team made up by Lutz Altepost, Norman Brockl, Torsten Eckbrett and Bjorn Goldschmidt finished third with a time of 2:56.676 minutes. Germany’s Men’s K4 team took one silver medal each in Sydney and Athens.

Italian legend Antonio Rossi failed to grab a medal with his team, who finished the course fourth. The 39-year-old has won five Olympic medals since 1992, including three gold medals. He was also the flag-bearer of the Italian delegation in the opening ceremony.

Defending champion Hungary only ranked fifth with a time of 2:59.009 minutes, about two seconds slower than its gold-winning time in Athens.