Kayak Fours, 1,000 metres, Men

Germany had won the K-4 1000 at the last two Olympics, as well as at two of the last three editions of the World Championships, but Hungary was the 1997 European and 1999 World Champion and was well-positioned to steal the title from their traditional rivals in 2000. Poland, meanwhile, was the reigning European champion. Hungary and Germany won the opening heats, with Poland third behind Russia in Hungary’s heat, but all advanced automatically to the final, where the Hungarians were able to edge out the Germans by 0.517 seconds to take the gold medal. The two-time Olympic champions thus settled for silver while Poland staved off a challenge from Slovakia to take bronze. Two members of the Hungarian crew, Zoltán Kammerer and Botond Storcz, went on to become double Olympic champions by winning the K-2 500 at the same Games.