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Queen Fischer takes aim at ninth gold
German kayak racer Birgit Fischer can equal the record as the most successful woman athlete in the history of the Games on Saturday.
German kayak racer Birgit Fischer can equal the record as the most successful woman athlete in the history of the Olympic Games on Saturday and also become the first woman to win golds 24 years apart.
The 42-year-old mother of two first struck gold as a teenager at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, where she competed for East Germany, and on Friday and Saturday, she could pick up the eighth and ninth of her career in the K2 500m and K4 500m events.
Success would take her level with Russian gymnast Larissa Latynina who also collected nine golds.
She would have probably have had the record already had East Germany not boycotted the Los Angeles Games in 1984.
At the same time, she will have accomplished winning twelve Olympic medals in total where she would be second in the all-time list behind Latynina who picked up 18 medals.
On top of that, Fischer has also collected 27 world championships titles, when she appeared at the Moscow Games in 1980, she became the youngest gold Olympian in the history of the sport.
On Friday, she will team up with Maike Nollen, Katrin Wagner and Carolin Leonhardt and then join Leonhardt, just 19, in Saturday's K2 final.
"I feel as young as my years," said Fischer. "It would be nice to win another gold but it's not the most important thing in my life.
"It is important for Carolin so I want us to win."
Fischer had already retired from the sport before the Sydney Games, where she picked up two golds, but rediscovered the bug for racing when she stepped back into a boat for a sponsor's promotion.
And with her two children now teenagers, she is free to keep on competing and hasn't yet ruled out appearing in Beijing in 2008 when she will be 46.
"I can relax here in Athens," said Fischer who started kayaking when she was only eight-years-old.
"I don't have to look after the children or keep the house tidy. I know that my mother has everything under control at home."
If she makes it to Beijing, she will be the proud owner of another record.
Victory would tie her with Hungarian fencer Aladar Gerevich who won golds in Games 28 years apart.
