Canadian Singles, 500 metres, Men

Bulgaria’s Nikolay Buhalov was the defending Olympic and three-time reigning World Champion in the C-1 500 and a strong favorite to take gold at the 1996 Games. He struggled in the opening round, however, and came fifth in an opening heat won by Martin Doktor of the Czech Republic, the 1995 World runner-up, while the other heat was taken by Thomas Zereske of Germany, the 1990 World runner-up. Buhalov continued to have difficulties in the semi-finals, where he lost his heat to Canadian Steve Giles, the 1993 World bronze medalist, while Ukraine’s Mykhailo Slivinsky, the 1988 and 1992 Olympic runner-up, took the other. Giles had a slight lead over the rest of the pack in the first half of the final, but that slowly disintegrated until he was left in last place by the end of the race. Doktor, meanwhile, put forth a powerful sprint near the end of the course to claim the gold medal ahead of Slovakia’s Slavomír Kňazovický, who fell from his canoe as he crossed the line in second place. This made Doktor a double Olympic champion, as he had won the C-1 1000 the previous day. Hungary’s Imre Pulai, the 1994 World runner-up and 1995 bronze medalist, came in third.