Attila Sandor Vajda of Hungary came from behind to win the gold medal in the Olympic canoe flatwater men's single (C1) 1,000 meters in the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on Friday.
Vajda won comfortably in 3 minutes, 50.467 seconds, earning Hungary's first gold medal at the Beijing Games.
Defending Olympic champion David Cal of Spain took silver in 3:52.751 and Thomas Hall of Canada, who won two pre-Games World Cups, took bronze in 3:53.653.
The 25-year-old Hungarian, bronze medalist in Athens and reigning world champion, was in sixth place by the 500 meters. But a late charge made him lead at the 750 meters and he held on the lead across the finish line.
He punched fists into the air and flapped the water in great joy at the finish line. At the medal ceremony, he hopped up and down and blew kisses to the delight of the crazy fans.
"I'm very happy. It's very hard to find words now. It's very hard but in the last 50m I felt I'd won the gold," he said emotionally after the race. "For the first 500m my aim was just to keep the pace with the others then my real race started. I knew David Cal couldn't keep up with me."
Vajda dedicated his medal to his late teammate Gyorgy Kolonics, who died during a training session in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.
"This is perfect. I want to dedicate my gold to Gyorgy Kolonics - the two-time Olympic champion."
A bronze was clearly a bonus for Canada's Hall. "I'm ecstatic I really don't know what to say, I knew I had the ability but I didn't know if I had it in me today, I feel great," he said.
Vadim Menkov of Uzbekistan led by the 500 meters, but finished in fourth place.
Andreas Dittmer of Germany, silver medalist in Athens, came in a disappointing eighth. The German won the C1 500m gold in Athens and also took the C2 1,000m title in Atlanta and the C1 1,000m title in Sydney.
(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)