The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Fischer's phenomenal feat

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Saturday, Aug 28, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Fischer's phenomenal feat

ATHENS, AUG. 27. Germany's 42-year-old kayaking legend Birgit Fischer may be finding it a little harder these days, but she still had what it took to win her eighth Olympic gold medal on Friday.

Germany's four-person kayak was slightly down halfway through the 500 metres final, but with Fischer setting the pace in front and three women half her age paddling in unison behind her, the Germans edged out in front and held on for a 0.2-second victory over Hungary, with Ukraine taking bronze.

Fischer looked to her left after crossing the line and seemed to know immediately that her squad had won. She raised her paddle above her head with both hands. Her boat-mates leaned back, closed their eyes and gasped with exhaustion.

The victory made Fischer — already the most successful Olympian in her country's history — the first woman to win medals 24 years apart. She won her first gold at 18 in Moscow, then becoming the youngest women ever to win an Olympic kayaking event.

``You never know if it's going to be the last medal you win, so in that sense, it has a higher meaning,'' Fischer said.

A strong contender

She now has 11 medals in total and will be a strong contender for yet another on Saturday, when she races in the pairs kayak final.

At the 2003 world championships, before Fischer made her comeback, the Germans were fifth with a K-4 entry paced by Maike Nollen, who moved back to the second seat this year.

``Birgit gives me a lot of confidence to concentrate on my job. I'm calmer,'' Nollen said. ``The last time, when I had to ride in the front, I was under higher pressure, and now I just have to follow her.''

The Hungarians won last year's world championship and seemed stunned that Fischer could make such a difference.

``We did the best we could, but the Germans were too fast,'' Hungary's Katalin Kovacs said. ``I am not pleased.''

David Cal bags gold

In the men's competition, Spain's David Cal surged ahead of the most dominant man in his sport on Friday to take the gold — his first Olympic medal — in the 1,000-metrer single canoe event.

Germany's Andreas Dittmer, the defending gold medallist and three-time defending world champion, led just out of the start, but Cal passed the 32-year-old and pulled out to nearly a one-second lead at the halfway mark.

Dittmer, who won silver, said he let Cal get too big an early lead and realised going into the last 250 metres that the 21-year-old Spaniard was not about to fade.

``And I realised I'm not as good as I supposed I'd be,'' Dittmer said.

Cal, subdued in triumph, said his front-running pace took everything out of him.

``Now I only want to rest,'' he said.

The race was expected to be a showdown between Dittmer and 1996 gold medallist Martin Doktor of the Czech Republic. But Doktor, who lost his heat race and was forced to win his place in the final via the semifinal round, finished out of medal contention by two seconds.

Attila Vajda of Hungary ended up in third.

In the single kayak 1,000-metre race, two-time world champion Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway pushed ahead of his rivals to take gold.

Reigning world champion Ben Fouhy of New Zealand won the silver after charging ahead from fifth place. Adam van Koeverden of Canada, who led the race at half distance, held on for bronze.

The Swedish kayak pair of Markus Oscarsson and Henrik Nilsson won their 1,000-metre event, improving on their silver in Sydney. Italians Anontio Rossi and Beniamino Bonomi, the defending Olympic champions, finished second, less than 0.05 seconds ahead of Norway, which included Larsen getting his second medal of the day.

The Germans took their second gold of the day when the canoe pair of Christian Gille and Tomasz Wylenzek won their 1,000-metre final.

They were 1.3 seconds behind Russia at 500 metres but a strong second half gave them gold with more than a second to spare. Russia held off Hungary for second. Gille raced with a black armband in honour of his former racingpartner Tomas Zereska, who died of leukemia this year. ``I just wanted to show the world how much this whole thing hurt,'' Gille said. — AP

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