Canadian Singles, 500 metres, Men

Russia’s Maksim Opalev won the C-1 500 at the World Championships from 1998 through 2002, as well as the two most recent editions of the European championships, but had lost the 2000 Olympic title to Hungary’s György Kolonics and the 2003 World one to Germany’s Andreas Dittmer, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist. Of those two, only Dittmer was competing in the C-1 500 at the 2004 Summer Games and would be the Russian’s greatest challenger for the title. Opalev and Dittmer won their heats with back-to-back Olympic records in the opening round, while the third was taken by David Cal of Spain, who became Spain’s first Olympic canoeing champion the day prior to the C-1 500 final by winning the C-1 1000 ahead of Dittmer. The tables were turned in the final of this event, however, when Dittmer took gold 0.34 seconds ahead of Cal and left him with silver. Opalev, meanwhile, was barely able to hold on to bronze, with four other competitors crossing the line within half a second of his finish.