Olympic Gold Medalists for Slovakia - Michal Martik N, Anastasiya Kuzmina, Pavol Hochschorner, Peter Hochschorner, Elena Kalisk (Paperback)

Chapters: Michal Martik n, Anastasiya Kuzmina, Pavol Hochschorner, Peter Hochschorner, Elena Kalisk . Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 19. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Michal Martik n (born May 18, 1979 in Liptovsk Mikul ) is a Slovak slalom canoeist. In 1996 he became the first athlete to win an Olympic Games gold medal for Slovakia after the country's independence in 1993. In the following two Olympics he won the silver medal in the same C1 event. He was awarded the silver medal after controversial verdict of referee in Athens 2004. However, he won gold after four years at 2008 Olympics and thus became the most successful paddler ever. He has also won the World Championships four times, in 1997, 2002, 2003, and 2007. He is considered by many the greatest C-1 slalom paddler alive. At the age of 16, Michal Martik n became the youngest winner of a World Cup slalom canoeing event. Three months later, now 17 years old, Martikan was in sixth place after the first run of the canoe slalom singles event at the 1996 Olympics. With nothing to lose, he went all out on the second run and just bettered the score of defending champion Luk Pollert of the Czech Republic. Martik n was the first Olympic champion to represent independent Slovakia. He entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourite, having consistently finished near the top in every major competition and in each World Cup series. At the Sydney Games, Martik n registered the best score in the qualifying round, but was only in fifth place after the first run of the final. In the second run, he paddled a perfect course and his time was the fastest of the round. He was able to move up to the silver medal position behind Tony Estanguet of France. Competing in his third Olympics in 2004, Martik n again led the qualifying round. He also ea...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=804614