Slalom kayaker Peter Kauzer has won a silver Olympic medal at the Rio Games, repeating the achievement of Andraž Vehovar from 1996. Joseph Clarke of Great Britain was the surprise winner.
A day after Tina Trstenjak took home the gold, Slovenia is celebrating another sporting success. Peter Kauzer withstood pressure at the X-Park and performed exceptionally in the finals. He made his way past all gates with confidence – and he was fast: At the first intermediate timing checkpoint, he was already 0.38 seconds ahead of the then-leading German Hannes Aigner. By the time he crossed the finish line, Kauzer knew that he had done an excellent job, but three young competitors, who had been better than him in the semifinals, were still waiting at the gate. In the end, the Hrastnik native was beaten only by Joseph Clarke of Great Britain, who tackled the course immediately after Kauzer.
He kept the promise he had given to his daughter
"It’s unbelievable how close the results were in the final. After a long time, things were as they were supposed to be. The Brazilian [Da Silva] had already set an impressive time. I tried to disregard this, and I knew where I had my reserves from the semifinals. I managed to improve my time by almost three seconds. It’s unfortunate that I came up a bit short of the gold, but I finally have an Olympic medal in my hands. I had promised my daughter that I would return from Rio with a surprise, and I’ve kept that promise,” Kauzer told the radio station Val 202.
Hundredths of a second in play for medals
Joseph Clarke became the Olympic champion by just 17 hundredths of a second. Kauzer perhaps lost his gold model at the 17th upstream gate, where he was slightly more reserved. The bronze went to the Czech Jiří Prskavec, who received a two-second penalty for touching one of the poles. Aigner ended up without a medal by a margin of just 0.04 seconds. When Prskavec made it past the finish line, it was obvious that Kauzer already had a podium position. He first celebrated his achievement with his father and coach Peter Kauzer Senior. The teenager Jakub Grigar, who had the best time in the semifinals, ended the race in the fifth position.
Predictions in Rio much more subdued than in London
The medal came as a huge relief for the 32-year-old Peter Kauzer, who has been among the very best in the sport for twelve years but was haunted by the thought that he still didn’t have the most prestigious medal. At the previous two Olympics, he was a favorite, and just before the 2012 London Olympics he had publicly "promised" a medal (a statement that was resented by some). He went to Rio without making any big predictions, but he nevertheless proved that he is a sporting giant. He finally added a medal from the world’s biggest competition to his two World Championship titles.
Remembering couch potatoes
In 2012, Kauzer was interviewed by MMC. When asked if he had any regrets that he had so confidently predicted a medal before the 2012 London games – a prediction that did not come true, Kauzer replied: "I’m not dumb or unconfident enough to say that, as world champion, I was hoping for the finals or a medal. You have to aim as high as possible. If your aims aren’t high enough, you can never succeed. It’s like couch potatoes who have no plans to leave the couch. I can’t help them."
