That brings the Olympic Wednesday: Do the riders multiply their gold?


That brings the Olympic Wednesday
Do the riders multiply their gold?

The dressage riders meet the target in the team – it is no less than the Olympic victory in Tokyo. There can be more medals as early as Wednesday when the grande dame Isabell Werth and Co. go into the individual arena. The rowers are also required to have a medal.

Rowing: So far, rowers in Tokyo have needed one thing above all else: good nerves. The weather caused several shifts in the schedule. But now it should work. Above all, the German double scull is the focus when it starts at 3:50 a.m. for the team around hitter Frieda Hämmerling. Six times gold, once silver, once bronze – that is the impressive record of the boat at the Olympic Games. “Our goal is very clear to get a medal,” said Franziska Kampmann. However, the field in the quad sculls “has moved closer together. Suddenly, nations are at the forefront that were otherwise not expected,” said Hämmerling.

The expectations are high, also because the rowers in the other boat classes have lost touch with the world’s best. The double scull only made it to the B final (02:18 a.m.), and just like the men’s double sculls (02:30 a.m.) and the men’s double sculls (03:30 a.m.) they pass the medals.

Swim: Is there the first medal for the German swimmer? Sarah Köhler could get her over 1500 meters freestyle. The final starts at 4:54 a.m. The World Cup runner-up in 2019 over this longest pool stretch presumably saved a few more energy in the run-up to qualifying as sixth. “I was a bit hectic in the water,” said the 27-year-old, “it could have been a bit more slippery.” Now she wants to “bring in a little more calm”. She was four seconds above the German record, top favorite and world record holder Katie Ledecky was 17 seconds faster. “In the final, the cards will be reshuffled,” said Köhler, for whom Edelmetall in Tokyo would be “a childhood dream”: “I’m very confident about that.”

The men’s relay over 4×200 meters freestyle will probably have less to do with the medals – but Lukas Märtens, Poul Zellmann, Henning Mühlleitner and Jacob Heidtmann made it to the final. As the seventh fastest of eight teams, you will be at the start at 05:26.

Cycling road: The men’s race was overshadowed by the positive corona test by Simon Geschke, the direct preparation with little sleep was more than unfavorable. Maximilian Schachmann finished tenth. In the individual time trial from 7 a.m. it would be presumptuous to hope for a medal from Schachmann or Nikias Arndt, both of whom want to be in the top ten. “The road race is still pretty tough for us,” said Arndt. Sports director Jens Zemke nevertheless trusts his duo to “drive in at the very front.” The 44.2 kilometer long course has an altitude difference of over 800 meters. “There might well be a surprise. You have to see how Ganna and Küng cope with it,” said Schachmann. The Berliner sees the Belgian Wout van Aert as a favorite at the Fuji International Speedway. “The meters in altitude are not a problem for him.”

Water jumping: The flag bearer of the German team at the opening ceremony makes an athletic appearance for the first time: Patrick Hausding and Lars Rüdiger will go synchronized jumping from the three-meter board from 8 a.m. “As reigning European champions and second in the World Cup, we are clearly fighting for the medals,” says Hausding confidently. The 32-year-old feels “in good shape” and “happily excited”. “The medal is a dream, but I also know how close you are to the top of the world,” said Hausding: “The field is so narrow and every millisecond can make the difference between victory and defeat.” But these are exactly the situations that he enjoys. The “fighting pig”, as national coach Lutz Buschkow calls his forerunner, is considered to have extremely strong nerves. This quality is particularly in demand after the long Corona break and in view of the ghost atmosphere in the Tokyo Aquatics Center.

Equestrian dressage: What’s going to go wrong there? You could arrogantly say: Gold is booked for Germany. After team gold, Isabell Werth with Bella Rose, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl with Dalera and Dorothee Schneider with Showtime – it’s presumptuous, but if everything goes perfectly – all three medals could jump out. The individual freestyle will show. The 2016 Olympic champion, Charlotte Dujardin from Great Britain, has of course just as much against it as the strong Catherine Dufour from Denmark with Bohemian. But the Germans were always the best in their group on the first day of the Grand Prix. And she probably pushed the gold in the team as well.

Judo: Dominic Ressel narrowly missed bronze on Tuesday, his fight was the first for a medal for Germany’s judoka. Can the middleweights do better? Giovanna Scoccimarro has her first fight against Elvismar Rodriguez from Venezuela at 5 a.m., her colleague Eduard Trippel is challenged against the Serb Nemanja Majdov at 5:30 a.m. The finals are then at 11:49 a.m. and 12:09 p.m.

Do gymnastics: The great qualification was followed by a small damper in the final. The team of German gymnasts made mistakes more often than a few days before. Nevertheless, the Olympics are already satisfactory for them – and the desire can be increased. With Lukas Dauser and Philipp Herder, two made it into the individual final (from 12:15 p.m.). Medals will not be around, they were 16th and 21st in the qualification. But for Dauser it is a good dress rehearsal: On August 3rd, he goes to his special bar with a great chance of medals.

Fencing: Will the German fencers succeed after all? It’s the men’s team with the saber. Max Hartung, Matyas Szabo and Benedikt Wagner were all eliminated early in the individual. From 04:25 a.m., we will play together against the Russian selection. “We want to fight for the medals, that’s clear,” said Sven Ressel, the sports director of the German Fencing Association. It is also about the last possible medal for the four-time European champion Hartung. “I wish Max this medal. That would be the greatest gift he can give himself and the team,” says Ressel: “He would have earned it to complete his career. It doesn’t matter what color it is then.” The final is at 12:30 p.m. – with German participation?

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