China makes history while Germany dominates Olympic canoeing

When Chinese pair paddlers wrote their names into the history of Olympic canoeing, the Germans continued their domination in water sport which concluded Saturday in Athens.

It could be an epic moment when Chinese Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun won the men's C2 500m final in a photo finish, beating their Cuban and Russian rivals to the second and third respectively Saturday morning.

The victory was even beyond their expection, as Yang put it, "I never expected this and this is incredible. I won a gold, the very first canoeing gold for our country."

His comment was echoed by his partner. "We came here to go for a medal but finally bagged a gold," said Meng.

However, it is German paddlers who take the limelight in the sport, taking four gold medals from 12 flatwater disciplines, one more than their accomplishment in Sydney four years ago.

The return of Birgit Fischer from retirement to compete at her sixth Olympic Games hit the headlines and underlined Germany's dominance in the sport when, at 42-year-old, she won her eighth Olympic title and her fourth silver medal in Olympic Games.

In Saturday's women's K2 500m race, she failed to win a record- equalling ninth Olympic gold medal, but she looked anything but disappointed.

"It is more than I expected. Winning the gold and the silver medal at the age of 42 -- what more do you want? " said the beaming Fischer, who won her eight gold in the K4 500 event on Friday, 24 years after she won her first gold at the Moscow Olympics.

Fischer had been bidding to join ex-Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, athletes Paavo Nurmi and Carl Lewis and swimmer Mark Spitz with the biggest haul of summer Olympic gold medals.

After six-day competitions, Germany proved its strength with four golds, four silvers and one bronze.

With six medals in hands, Hungary placed second on the medal standings with three golds. Natasa Janics became the only female paddler to win two titles in the races in the K1 500m and K2 500m respectively.

David Cal snatched one gold and one silver respectively in men' s C1 1000m and 500m, putting Spain into the third place in medal standings.

Canada, bagging one gold and two bronzes, came out fourth.

Norwegian Eirik Veraas larsen won a gold in the K1 1000m and took the bronze in the K2 1000m with partner Nils Olav Fjeldheim, giving Norway the fifth place in the ranking.

The remaining one gold went to Sweden in men's K2 1000m by Markus Oscarsson and Henrik Nilsson, runner-up in Sydney.