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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Four gold medals were decided in the Olympic canoe sprint competition on Thursday as Germany, Ukraine, Hungary and Spain each took one gold.
Germany claimed the gold in the men's K2 1000m. It was Germany's third gold in this event after 1992 and 2008.
Max Rendschmidt said after his win: "The best race that we had. It was very hard at the end."
"Everything has to be right to win the gold medal. We were a little bit off of power in the end but otherwise the first 800m was so good, so we can win the race with that part." added Rendschmidt's partner Marcus Gross.
Marko Tomicevic and Milenko Zoric clinched silver, Serbia's first Olympic medal in canoe sprint. It was also Serbia's fourth medal in the 2016 Games.
"Well this is my first medal in the Olympic Games. This is something special in my life, but I can't be fully happy because we wanted to win," said Tomicevic.
Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame took bronze. This was Australia's third medal in the men's K2 1000m, after two other bronze medals in 1984 and 1988.
Tame said after winning his first medal: "It's special. I'm going to be an Olympian my whole life."
Iurii Cheban from Ukraine bagged the gold in the men's C1 200m. Valentin Demyanenko from Azerbaijan settled for silver and the bronze went to Isaquias Queiroz dos Santos from Brazil.
This was Cheban's second successive gold medal in this boat class.
"Maybe the first time I won the medal it was more emotional, but this time I knew what I should prepare for. I was preparing for a tough race and it was indeed a tough race. This race was much, much harder than the previous one."said Cheban.
Cheban explained why he capsized at the finish. "On the finish line each athlete wants to put the nose of the boat as far as possible to maximize the chance of being first. My body weight got to the back of the boat and I capsized. It was a golden trick."
Spain snatched the gold in the men's K2 200m in 32.075 seconds. Britain and Lithuania took silver and bronze, respectively in 32.368 and 32.382 seconds.
This was the third Olympic medal for Spain's Saul Craviotto after he claimed gold in the men's K2 500m in 2008 and silver in the men's K1 200m in 2012.
"I will never dream to have three medals and two golds so now I am dreaming," said Craviotto.
Danuta Kozak from Hungary took the gold in the women's K1 500m in 1 minute and 52.494 seconds. Emma Jorgensen from Denmark notched up silver in 1:54.326, edging Lisa Carrington from New Zealand into third place in 1:54.372.
Thus Kozak retained her 2012 Olympic Games title in this event. This was her second gold medal in Rio after the K2 500m on Tuesday.
"I am very very happy. A few days ago I have sickness, and now I feel better and better," said Kozak.
