Gold for swimmer Florian Wellbrock, silver for the two kayaks Max Hoff and Jacob Schopf: The Olympic day in Tokyo starts off successfully for the German team.
The hockey men and table tennis women, on the other hand, did not make it onto the podium.
Swimming gold:
Florian Wellbrock is Olympic champion! In the open water race over ten kilometers, the double world champion determined the action from the start with the self-image of a champion and swam on Thursday night to the first gold medal for the German Swimming Association in 13 years. At the finish, the 23-year-old was only too happy to be hugged by the team members after a performance in a class of its own. "For me personally, I think it's my summer fairy tale today," said Wellbrock. After a little less than 1:50 hours, Wellbrock struck with over 25 seconds ahead of the Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky and the Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri.
Canoe silver:
Max Hoff and Jacob Schopf didn't quite get the gold they had longed for, but the two world champions in two kayaks were also happy with Olympic silver. Shortly after crossing the finish line, they hugged, were boat to boat with the winners Jean van der Westhuyzen and Thomas Green from Australia. The two athletes from Essen and Potsdam were 0.304 seconds short of the 1000 meters on the Sea Forest Waterway after a real canoe thriller. Third place went to the Czechs Josef Dostal and Radek Slouf.
Hockey disappointment:
No happy ending for Germany's men: For the first time in 21 years, the team returns from the Olympic Games without a medal. The selection of the German Hockey Association lost the small final against India 4: 5 (3: 3) and came fourth empty-handed. The last time the DHB team was in Sydney in 2000 was without precious metal. After that, there were bronze medals in Athens in 2004 and Rio in 2016, and gold in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. "For us today a small world has come to an end," said national coach Kais al Saadi.
Table tennis disappointment:
Germany's women return from Tokyo after 2016 without the hoped-for second Olympic medal. Han Ying, Petrissa Solja and Shan Xiaona were beaten 1: 3 against Hong Kong in the bronze medal match. The victory in the opening doubles for Solja and Shan was too little for the three seeded selection. The team of national coach Jie Schöpp clearly missed their desired crowning conclusion of these summer games.
Athletics: The
shot put giant Ryan Crouser has also been unbeatable in Tokyo. After 2016 in Rio, the 28-year-old American won the second gold medal. For the world record holder and second in the World Cup, the question was not whether he would win, but with what distance: It was 23.30 meters, only seven centimeters away from his world record distance. Due to a back injury, Leipzig's David Storl, the 2012 Olympic runner-up, was unable to qualify for the Tokyo Games.