Updated: 2008-08-23 20:19:17
(BEIJING, August 23) — All competitions of the Canoe/Kayak Flatwater concluded on Saturday, August 23. Six gold medals were evenly shared by six countries, indicating a worldwide progression in this sport over the past Olympic cycle.
(L-R) Adam van Koeverden, Ken Wallace and Tim Brabants (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Australia’s Ken Wallace won the most difficult race, the Men’s Kayak Single (K1) 500 meter. He battled off defending champion Adam van Koeverden of Canada, Friday’s K1 1000m winner Tim Brabants of Great Britain and Friday’s K1 1000m bronze medalist Eirik Veras Larsen of Norway, to win this gold.
“I knew I had to get out to a good start. I knew it was going to be tough. It always comes down to the last 50 metres,” said Wallace after the race. “It’s one of those feelings that you just can’t explain. You dream about it for so long and there it is; it’s happened.”
Adam van Koeverden’s Beijing journey was a bit disappointing compared to his success in Athens. The 26-year-old was expected to win both the 1000m and 500m but only pulled out one silver. “I’m really happy to pull through with a medal for Canada. It’s not the color I expected but I didn’t earn that today,” he said. “I train with Ken often and he certainly deserves that [gold medal]. I focused on relaxing in the first half and putting in a big effort during the second half, but I tightened up. I couldn’t change my race plan just because I wasn’t feeling 100 percent. It was a well-fought struggle.”
Great Britain’s Tim Brabants took the bronze medal, his second medal in this tournament.
(L-R) David Cal, Maxim Opalev, Iurii Cheban (Photo credit: Getty Images)
Russia’s Maxim Opalev paddled in Sydney and Athens, acquiring a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. The 28-year-old fulfilled his dream of an Olympic gold medal by winning the Canoe Single (C1) 500m final on Saturday.
“At the last 200m I still felt I was behind others. I just did my best to break away from the pack, and I didn’t realize I had won until I got to the finishing line,” said Opalev post-race. “With the gold medal around my neck I feel powerful. I’m very happy to bring this gold medal back to my homeland. I hadn’t expected to win the gold medal because my rivals are very strong.”
His fiercest rival in the final was second place David Cal of Spain who won a gold medal in Athens in the C1 1000m course. “Today I am very happy. My rhythm was good and even if it is not a gold, it is always a medal. I’ve got four silver medals in the Olympics, it’s wonderful,” Cal said.
Ukraine’s 22-year-old paddler Iurii Cheban took the bronze medal.
(L-R) Josefa Idem, Inna Osypenko-Radomska, Katrin Wagner-Augustin (Photo credit: Getty Images)
The first women’s event in the afternoon was the Women’s Kayak Single (K1) 500m final. Ukraine’s Inna Osypenko-Radomska surprisingly won the race by defeating seven-time Olympian Josefa Idem of Italy, five-time Olympic medalist Katalin Kovacs of Hungary and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katrin Wagner-Augustin of Germany. The 25-year-old took a bronze medal in Athens in K4 500. The gold medal on Saturday is her best individual achievement.
“I gave myself a goal and I’m happy to have achieved that. The first thing I will do is call my husband who is my biggest fan,” said Osypenko-Radomska after the medal ceremony. “”The race was so close, I didn’t know I was winning because I was so close to Italy [Josefa Idem]. I didn’t know I had won.”
Trailing only 0.004 seconds, 43-year-old Idem completed her Beijing journey with her fifth Olympic medal. “I cannot say anything about the next Olympics because of my age, but athletes never believe they are at their last Olympics,” said the legendary paddler. “I had a great race. I hope I provided a good match and good feelings for the Italian spectators. I want to say thank you to everybody who supported me.”
Wagner-Augustin placed third.
(L-R) Tim Wieskotter, Ronald Rauhe, Carlos Perez, Saul Craviotto, Vadzim Makhneu, Raman Piatrushenka (Photo credit: Getty Images)
In the following Men’s Kayak Double (K2) 500m final, Spain’s Saul Craviotto and Carlos Perez pulled another surprising win. The pair was unproven in this course but led the race from start to end.
“It’s wonderful that we got the gold medal. We weren’t expecting this; we cannot believe it,” said Craviotto. “We performed at our utmost today and we performed at exactly the right time.”
This is the first time the new pair raced together and they held off defending champions Ronald Rauhe and Tim Wieskotter of Germany, who were disappointed after placing second. “Of course we are not happy. It is very disappointing,” Rauhe commented. “It is even more disappointing for us because we could have been there, we could have finished first.”
Belarus’ Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu finished third.
(L-R) Sergey Ulegin, Alexander Kostoglod, Yan Wenjun, Meng Guanliang, Christian Gille, Thomasz Wylenzek(Photo credit: Getty Images)
China’s Yang Wenjun and Meng Guanliang successfully defended their title in Men’s Double (C2) 500-meter course. They also finished the course without trailing a single bit. Meng retired after the pair’s victory in Athens but decided to return to action in 2006. This is the 31-year-old paddler’s last Olympic journey.
“It’s not easy [for me to make a return after retiring], especially after I got married. I had to lose weight, do a large amount of exercise and we put a lot of effort into our training,” said Meng. “My wife and son said they would come here to watch my race and I want to dedicate this gold medal to my son.”
Russia’s Sergey Ulegin and Alexander Kostoglod finished second and Athens C2 1000m winter Christian Gille and Thomasz Wylenzek of Germany placed third.
(L-R) Aneta Konieczna, Beata Mikolajczyk, Katalin Kovacs, Natasa Janics, Anne-Laure Viard, Marie Delattre (Photo credit: Getty Images)
The last final in the afternoon was the Women’s Kayak Doubles (K2) 500m and another pair successfully retained their title. Four years ago, Hungary’s Natasa Janics and Katalin Kovacs won this course with much authority. Four years later, 32-year-old Kovacs and 26-year-old Janics didn’t give their rivals any chance.
“It ended very well because Katalin finished fourth in the K1 event and without this win we would be very sad,” said Janics after the race. “Winning gold means that I am the only woman from Hungary with three [Olympic] gold medals at Kayaking.”
“In previous years we have had performances with maximum gold medals, but now we have to be happy and proud with what we have achieved.” Kovacs added.
Poland’s Beata Mikolajczyk and Aneta Konieczna ranked second and Marie Delattre and Anne-Laure Viard of France placed third.
