Holmann Avenges Loss in 1,000-Meter Kayak

Knut Holmann couldn’t beat Clint Robinson in 1992 in Barcelona, so he joined him.

Then beat him.

Holmann, of Norway, defeated Australia’s Robinson when it counted most, in the rematch of the 1,000-meter kayak final, taking the gold medal at Lake Lanier.

Holmann said he needed four years to recover from his loss in Barcelona.

“I got over it pretty fast, after a week or two, but it has always been in my mind,” he said. “I don’t think that race was absolutely my best.”

Holmann and Robinson have competed against each other for years. Holmann traveled to Australia to pick up training tips, decided he liked his own methods and then beat Robinson at last year’s World Championships.

Robinson took the early lead Saturday, but Holmann pulled even and then overtook him by the halfway point. Beniamino Bonomi, world champion in the 500-meter, two-man kayak, pulled ahead momentarily at the 750-meter mark, but Holmann picked up his stroke and won by half a kayak length. Robinson won the bronze.

“It was a surprise for me because it was more fast to compete with him and Robinson,” said Holmann, who will race today in the 500-meter final.

Germany, with its distinctive pink boats, dominated Saturday’s six finals, winning three gold medals and a silver. Hungary picked up one silver and two bronze, and Italy won a gold and a silver.

The first German gold medal came in the 1,000-meter, four-woman kayak, a race in which the boat never trailed.

The second gold came in the 1,000-meter, two-man canoe when Andreas Dittmer and Gunar Kirschbach came from ninth place through the first 250 meters and went ahead in the final 250.

The Germans defended their Olympic championship in the 1,000-meter, four-man kayak.

The Italians started their quest to win a medal for every boat qualified in the Olympic finals with a silver and a gold.

World champions Antonio Rossi and Daniele Scarpa won the gold medal in the 1,000-meter, two-man kayak by coming from behind to beat Germany and Bulgaria.

Germany’s Kay Bluhm and Torsten Gutsche, the 1992 gold medalists, led through the first 500 meters, but the Italians took the lead during the next 250 and beat the Germans by 1.3 seconds.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

MEDALISTS

Canoe and Kayak MEN’S KAYAK SINGLES Gold: Knut Holmann, Norway

Silver: Beniamino Bonomi, Italy

Bronze: Clint Robinson, Australia

MEN’S CANOE SINGLES

Gold: Martin Doktor, Czech Republic

Silver: Ivan Klementyev, Latvia

Bronze: Gyorgy Zala, Hungary

MEN’S DOUBLE KAYAK

Gold: Rossi-Scarpa, Italy

Silver: Bluhm-Gutsche, Germany

Bronze: Dushev Kazanov, Bulgaria

MEN’S DOUBLE CANOE

Gold: Dittmer-Kirschbach, Germany

Silver: Giavan-Bonsan, Romania

Bronze: Kolonivics-Horvath, Hungary

MEN’S KAYAK FOURS

Gold: Germany

Silver: Hungary

Bronze: Russia

WOMEN’S KAYAK FOURS

Gold: Germany

Silver: Switzerland

Bronze: Sweden