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McKeever wins kayak 200m gold
Ed McKeever wins Olympics kayak K1 gold for Britain
Ed McKeever powered to victory in the men's 200m kayak to win Britain's 26th gold of the Olympics.
The 28-year-old dominated the K1 single final, with Spaniard Saul Craviotto Rivero taking silver and Canada's Mark de Jonge bronze.
Analysis
"He blew the field away from the start, leaving everyone else trying to catch him. A fantastic performance. That core strength that drives the blades and the focus this man has is incredible and he hasn't been fazed by anything."
McKeever crossed the line in 36.246 seconds to win Britain's second ever Olympic canoe sprint gold medal after Tim Brabants triumphed in 2008.
McKeever adds Olympic gold to his 2010 World and European titles.
"I'm so happy," he said. "I feel relief. It sounds stupid but it's not elation, more relief, and I'm so happy to do it front of a home crowd.
"I was like a kid at Christmas this morning, waiting to open his presents. I get to open those presents soon."
After a barren week for Britain in the canoe sprint events, McKeever raised hopes of a medal when he set an Olympic record in the heats, as gold medal favourite Piotr Siemionowski crashed out.
McKeever relieved to deliver gold
McKeever slipped to the third fastest time overall in the semi-finals, behind de Jong and Craviotto Rivero, although only 0.024 seconds separated the trio.
But on finals day, McKeever, who is training to become an accountant, fed off the energy from a cheering 30,000 capacity crowd.
A blistering start gave him an early lead and he was soon into a smooth paddling rhythm as he kept up the ruthless pace to hold off the chasing pack and take gold.
"A hard wind made the race a bit longer," he said. "I wanted to focus on the first three strokes. I wanted to nail them and hopefully the rest sorted itself out, which it did."
Final Results
| Rank | Athlete | Country | Medal moment | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mckeever |
GBR
|
36.246 | |
| 2 | Craviotto Rivero |
ESP
|
36.540 | |
| 3 | De Jonge |
CAN
|
36.657 |
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Comment number 142.
Malintrepid2212th August 2012 - 12:02
140 Mick T Why oh Why are people queing up to criticise the BBC. All of the events have been available live on the 24 BBC sky 450 to 475 Channels and red button. Are there too many lazy people unable even to change channels there only exercise is to moan at anything British how sad.
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Comment number 141.
Mark M12th August 2012 - 10:14
If you got up early you got a real treat. It looked as if they had inboard motors. Well done Ed
Link to this (Comment number 141)
Comment number 140.
MickT12th August 2012 - 9:04
Well done Ed, Liam and Jon :)
It just shows how minor the BBC think this sport is! Even with Ed winning gold and Liam Heath and Jon Schofield getting bronze, very little coverage during the mainstream broadcasting hours including the main news – more given to the diving and hockey where we achieved a lower result – BBC, care to explain?
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Comment number 139.
suzkid12th August 2012 - 1:03
Congratulations to the whole canoeing fraternity on a magnificent Olympic effort:
C2 slalom: Gold - Stott/Baillie
C2 slalom: Silver - Florence/Hounslow
K1 sprint: Gold - McKeever
K2 sprint: Bronze - Heath/Schofield
For a 'minority' (ignored-by-TV) sport, canoeing punches above its weight.
Both the whitewater slalom & sprint codes were by far the most exciting of all the water-based sports.
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Comment number 138.
mr dancing gecko11th August 2012 - 23:34
@137 Don't forget, the vast majority of the funding for sport comes from the National Lottery, not central government. Not a great deal that he can cut there.
Though if people have less cash in their pockets, will they be able to buy a ticket and add to that funding. If the economy doesn't recover, it's not just sport funding from the lottery that will suffer.
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