Good Day for Rowing
August 22, 2008
Germany's Lena Schoeneborn on Friday won the women's modern pentathlon at the Beijing Olympics after setting an Olympic record in the fencing portion. Schoneborn took the gold with 5,792 points, beating Briton Heather Fell by 40 points.
The modern pentathlon consists of five different disciplines - shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running. Schoeneborn was particularly outstanding in the fencing, where she won 28 out of her 35 bouts to a total of 1,072 points.
Going into the final run, where athletes start according to their points position, the German had a 19 second lead on Fell and although the Briton managed to make up some ground, she could not catch the 22-year-old.
"The fencing was the foundation. During the run I had good speed and a good lead. I knew that I was going to win a medal, but I also knew that the ones chasing me where very good," Schoeneborn said.
Gold on the water
The other two gold medals taken home by German athletes were won on the water. The German four of Fanny Fischer, Nicole Reinhardt, Katrin Wagner-Augustin and Conny Wasmuth clinched the women's K4 over 500 meters. It was the fourth Olympic gold medal for Wagner-Augustin, who won gold in Athens in the K4 and in the K2 and K4 in Sydney, while Fischer followed a family tradition, as her mother Sarina Huelsenbeck won two gold medals at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow as part of the East German swimming relay team.
"We won easily, that was just incredible," said Wagner-Augustin, while Wasmuth, who got a chance to compete in place of Carolin Leonhardt, who had to withdraw ill, said that she could not believe it.
The Germans won in a time of 1:32.231, beating Hungary by 0.740 seconds.
Germany added a second gold as Andreas Ihle and Martin Hollstein won the K2, beating Kim Wraae Knudsen and Rene Holten Poulsen from Denmark.
The stress of winning silver
Olympic canoeist Thomasz Wylenzek fainted after winning the silver medal with his German partner in the 1,000-meter canoe double race and is being treated for dehydration at hospital. Wylenzek is listed in stable condition Friday. International Canoe Federation spokesman Dave Macleod says he has been given intravenous fluids.
Wylenzek's partner, Christian Gille, says his teammate fainted because of the heat. The pair led almost the entire way until Belarus edged their canoe by a nose and they settled for silver in 3 minutes, 36.588 seconds.
German rowers also walked away with a bronze medal today when the foursome of Lutz Altepost, Norman Brockl, Torsten Eckbrett and Bjorn Goldschmidt came in third in the men's 1,000-meter kayak four.