- Gold hat trick in the kayak four - "A little beer"
Paddler Max Rendschmidt took a moment to cool off after the nerve-wracking finish and, not entirely willingly, went overboard. With a tiny lead of just four hundredths of a second, the German men's four kayak, with Rendschmidt, Max Lemke, Jacob Schopf, and Tom Liebscher-Lucz, achieved an Olympic hat-trick. "When we knew we had gold, I wanted to turn around and celebrate with the guys, but then I lost my balance and fell into the water," Rendschmidt recalled. "At least I could high-five all the guys behind me."
"Gold for Eternity"
Schopf, the youngest in the boat, let the tears flow during the medal ceremony. "This is the sporting dream, it was incredibly emotional," said the 25-year-old, who lost gold in the men's double kayak three years ago in Tokyo just before the finish line. "Now it's gold for eternity, that's sure to bring a few tears, but there's no shame in that."
For Liebscher-Lucz, gold before the double races is a relief: "Now everyone has gold on their bedside table. We'll probably have a little beer at the bar downstairs. We've earned it." The quartet is also favored in the two double kayak events, with Rendschmidt/Liebscher-Lucz and Lemke/Schopf.
False Start Without Consequences
The men's four got off to the worst possible start. The German boat caused a false start, forcing all finalists to paddle back to the starting line. "They didn't make it easy on us mentally, but they executed the race tactics perfectly," praised sports director Jens Kahl.
Rendschmidt has experienced this mishap before. "We've also started too early in some World Cups. But the field is so close together, you have to take full risk," he said with a smile. The second start was successful. In a thrilling race, Australia came close in the final sprint, but it was just enough for another victory. "The last meters were ugly," said Schopf.
Women Paddle to Silver
Earlier, the women's kayak four won the silver medal over 500 meters. Paulina Paszek, Jule Hake, Pauline Jagsch, and Sarah Brüssler had to settle for second place behind the boat from New Zealand. They missed out on the first Olympic gold for a German women's quartet in this event since 2008 in Beijing by just 0.42 seconds. "Silver is fantastic. It's like little gold," said Kahl.
The women had previously won silver in the kayak four in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The German quartet was leading at one point but was overtaken by the strong New Zealanders. Bronze went to Hungary. "At one point, I saw out of the corner of my eye that we were leading, but then the New Zealanders came back and passed us," said Hake. "We can be proud of ourselves. Now we can go even stronger into the double races."
Liebscher the Bodybuilder - Rendschmidt the Nutella Man
The strongest man in the gold-winning men's boat is Liebscher-Lucz. "He looks like a bodybuilder," said Schopf, who is more of a social media expert. "But Max Rendschmidt watches the most YouTube videos," Schopf corrected immediately and revealed another secret about the stroke man: "He can also eat the most kilograms of Nutella in a year. He's also way ahead in Brause-Ufos."
The 11-meter long kayak four is the first of its class to emerge from the oven. This boat is baked in an autoclave for six hours at 120 degrees. Beforehand, resin is applied to the laminate and fabric, resulting in an optimal ratio of fiber to resin. This technology has already been successfully applied to bob sled helmets in winter sports.
"With this method, you achieve higher stiffness and strength than with curing at room temperature," said Michael Nitsch, director of the Berlin Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES), to the German Press Agency. The innovative design makes the four-man express lighter. The difference from the minimum weight of 30 kilograms is then filled with lead. Where this happens in the boat, which is only about 40 centimeters wide, is the secret of the FES developers.
The team is confident that their success in the four-person kayak event will translate well to the double races, with Rendschmidt/Liebscher-Lucz and Lemke/Schopf as favorites. Regardless of the outcome, they all agree that the gold they've earned is a dream come true and a feat that will be remembered for 'other' significant milestones in their careers.
In their downtime, the athletes have different interests. While Liebscher-Lucz works out to maintain his strength, Rendschmidt is known for his love of Nutella, consuming more of it than anyone else in the team.
