German C2 1000m team paddlers Christian Gille and Tomasz Wylenzek made history in the Athens Olympics by clinching the gold with a result of 3:41.802. As the Beijing Olympic Games is round the corner, people are wondering if they can make history again.
Each of them has a glorious past.
Gille, born in January 1979, won a junior world champion in C4 race in 1993. He won two senior world championship gold medals with Thomas Zereske in the C2 200m sprint in 1997 and 1998. In 2002, he won the only individual world championship medal of his career. It was in the same year that he began to partner with 19-year-old Wylenzek and finished third in the European Championships.
Two years later, they showed to the world they were the best in the event by reaching the finish line first in Athens. In 2005, they completely dominated the C2 event.
Wylenzek, four years younger than his partner, was born in Poland. He has three major championship titles to his credit. He won two junior world championship titles in 2001. In the next year, he was promoted to the German senior squad as C2 partner for the more experienced Gille. They shocked the world in Athens in 2004 and the next year, showing that their Athens victory had been no one-off.
These two C2 canoeists came out first in the Flatwater Racing World Cup at Lake Matyer near Szeged, about 170km south of Hungarian capital Budapest on June 6, 2008.
Germany netted 49 medals in Athens including 13 golds. As for the Beijing Olympics, Germany is planning to send a 450-strong team.
Canoeing was Germany's most successful discipline in Athens where the team reaped four golds and nine medals in total.
Though their chances on the water have been damaged by the withdrawal of 46-year-old Brigit Fischer earlier this year, the German team still pins high hopes on canoeing.
Gille and Wylenzek will compete in the 500m and 1000m races in the Beijing Olympic Games. They cherish the hope of making history yet again in Beijing's newly-built rowing park.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)