Kayak Doubles, 500 metres, Men

Germany’s Kay Bluhm and Torsten Gutsche had won the men’s K-2 500 at the last two Olympics, but had both retired by the 2000 Games. Their nation had not earned a medal in this event at the European or World Championships since their 1996 victory, but sent the promising duo of Ronald Rauhe and Tim Wieskötter to Sydney. The 1996 Olympic bronze medalists, Danny Collins and Andrew Trim of Australia, had been the 1997 World Champions and 1999 bronze medalists, while Marek Twardowski and Adam Wysocki of Poland were the reigning European and World Champions. Slovakia’s Juraj Bača and Michal Riszdorfer had been the 1998 World Champions, while Beniamino Bonomi of Italy, one of the 1996 Olympic runners-up, had been the 1997 and 1998 World runner-up and the 1997 European champion with Luca Negri, although he was partnered with double Olympic champion Antonio Rossi in 2000.

Germany defeated Poland in the first opening heat to advance directly to the final, while Slovenia was bested by Hungary’s Zoltán Kammerer and Botond Storcz, the latter of whom had been one of the most recent World runners-up. Australia and Italy, meanwhile, were sent to the semi-finals by Sweden’s Henrik Nilsson and Markus Oscarsson. Poland, Slovenia, and Italy met in the semi-final, which the latter won while Slovenia was eliminated in favor of Americans Peter Newton and Angel Pérez. The final was a battle between Australia and Hungary, the latter of whom was able to push forward and capture the gold medal, leaving the former with silver at their home Olympics. The fight for bronze, meanwhile, was between Germany, France’s Bâbak Amir-Tahmasseb and Philippe Aubertin, and Poland, who finished in that order a mere 0.192 seconds apart. The Hungarians thus became double Olympic champions at these Games, as they had also been part of the crew that had won the K-4 1000 the day before.