Published: August 22, 2008 09:01 am            

NEW – Belarusian brothers win 1,000-meter canoe double

BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China — Andrei and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich of Belarus have won the gold medal in men’s 1,000-meter canoe double, storming from behind to edge Germany in a thrilling finish.

The Bahdanovich brothers were nearly 1 second behind with 250 meters to go, then furiously paddled their way to the front just before the finish. They won Friday in 3 minutes, 36:365 seconds.

The German pair of Christian Gille and Thomasz Wynlenzek led almost the entire way until their canoe was edged by a nose, settling for silver in 3:36.588.

Gyorgy Kozmann and Tamas Kiss won bronze in 3:40.258. Kozmann and Kiss wore black armbands to honor Gyorgy Kolonics, a canoeing gold medalist at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics who died last month after collapsing in his canoe while training for the Beijing Games.

        

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