Kayak Singles, 500 metres, Men

The men’s K-1 500 was held for the first time at the Olympics in 1976 and, with 1973 and 1975 World Champion Géza Csapó of Hungary competing in the K-1 1000 instead, the path seemed open for Romania’s Vasile Dîba, the 1974 World Champion and 1975 runner-up, to take the inaugural Olympic title. Hungary, meanwhile, sent Zoltán Sztanity, a 1960 Olympic champion in the K-1 4 x 500 metres relay. Another contender was Poland’s Grzegorz Śledziewski, bronze medalist in the event at the last three World Championships. Śledziewski won his heat in the opening round, but the fastest time went to Dîba by a margin of 0.13 seconds. Sztanity, meanwhile, came in second in a heat won by Rüdiger Helm of East Germany. Sztanity was again second in the semi-finals, this time to Śledziewski, while Helm was runner-up to Sergey Lizunov of the Soviet Union, who posted the round’s fastest time by the slimmest of margins, 0.01 seconds, over Śledziewski. Dîba won the third heat and, more importantly, the final, by emerging victorious by 0.54 seconds in a battle against Sztanity over the final stretch. Helm had his own challenges in claiming bronze, having to stave off Śledziewski and Spain’s Herminio Menéndez: only 0.19 seconds separated these canoeists as they crossed the finish line. Helm’s medal was one of three that he won at the Games, as he was also champion in the K-1 1000 and a bronze medalist in the K-4 1000, while Dîba also took bronze in the K-1 1000.