Togo claims first Olympic medal

Togo won its first ever Olympic medal when Benjamin Boukpeti took bronze in the men's single kayak slalom at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Boukpeti's snapped his paddle in half during wild celebrations.

"I can hardly believe it but I'm not surprised," said Boukpeti, who became the first non-European male kayaker to win an Olympic slalom medal.

Unexpected leader after the first run, he held on to finish 5.21 seconds ahead of Ireland's Eoin Rheinisch in fourth.

Germany's Alexander Grimm claimed gold and produced an error-free final run, taking the difficult upstream gates smoothly, to move from fourth to first.

But despite Grimm's impressive efforts, the biggest cheer from the packed crowd was reserved for world number 56, Boukpeti.

Afterwards he hugged and kissed his French mother and Togolese father, AP news agency reports.

"They showed me it was possible," Boukpeti said

Togo's minister for communication, culture and civic education said Boukpeti had made the nation proud.

"This is unexpected; it is a good surprise for Togo," Cornelius Aidam said.

"It is more than a beautiful surprise because many Togolese are not aware of this sports discipline."

France's Fabien Lefevre, who was favourite to win, took silver, but he struggled in the upper part of the course.

Lefevre and Kauzer Struggle

Going into the men’s singles kayak slalom the Frenchman Fabien Lefevre and Slovenian Peter Kauzer were by far and away the pre-race favourites to take home the gold and silver medals. After Monday’s preliminary rounds everyone expected that Kauzer would go on and claim the gold after he blew away the opposition to finish a clear winner of the preliminaries. However, to win Olympic medals you have to produce your best when it is needed most. Sadly for the Slovenian contingent Kauzer couldn’t replicate his form from Monday and struggled in the Chinese waters, finishing in 13th place on the reconfigured course.

Lefevre posted a good first run but seriously struggled on his second to maintain any consistency down the course. All the Frenchmen’s hopes of winning gold were all but gone after the first few gates of his final run as he failed to fully get to grips with the challenge of the opening part of the course, known as the Dragon’s Bath. Despite not quite producing his best Lefevre did manage to win the silver medal.

Alexander Grimm Wins Gold

While the main contenders fell by the wayside, the world number three German Alexander Grimm came from behind after his first run in the semi final to post a time of 171.70 seconds. However, Grimm had an anxious wait after his fine performance as he had to watch three more competitors complete their final runs. When nobody managed to beat the benchmark set by Grimm, the elated German raised his hands in the air as he realised that he was now the Olympic champion.