Rio Olympics 2016: Team GB’s Joe Clarke wins gold in the men’s K1 canoe slalom
LITTLE-KNOWN Joe Clarke has given Britain golden relief in the men's K1 canoe slalom - after an outstanding final paddle down the Rio white water course.
Clarke, 23, scored Team GB's shock second gold of the Games after beating Slovenia's Peter Kauzer into second by just 0.17 seconds, with Czech Republic's Jiri Prskavec in third.
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Clarke was the third to last paddler to go down the course at the Whitewater Stadium - and set a stunning time of 88.53sec in the final.
He then faced a nervous wait as Kauzer and Prskavec headed down after him, with the Czech looking initially to be faster than the Brit, but he had two penalty seconds added for clipping a gate.
Clarke's interest as a youngster began when trying out kayaking with his Scout troop.
He then went to join his local club, but they said he was too young. So when he was 11, he got his teeth stuck into the sport at Stafford and Stone Canoe club on the banks of the river trent.
And that chance attempt with a paddle set his career on a path to gold - giving the the whole of Team GB a much-needed confidence boost with the top honours, just hours before we won another gold medal in the diving.
A delighted Clarke said: "I went out on that final run, laid it all on the line, put my all out there and that was enough to come away with the Olympic gold medal.
Joe Clarke, Olympic Champion! It was what I went to bed dreaming about last night
Joe Clarke, canoe slalom gold medallist
“It is absolutely fantastic and a dream come true. So much hard work has gone into this and the support from the National Lottery and UK Sport has been unbelievable.
“That has made it possible to come out here on so many training camps and really maximise our advantage and that is what I did today.
“When I crossed the line and knew I had a bronze I was absolutely ecstatic. It got even better when that upgraded to a silver and then upgraded to a gold.
“Joe Clarke, Olympic Champion. Joe Clarke, Olympic Champion! It was what I went to bed dreaming about last night and what I’ve dreamed of for so many years.
“To wake up this morning thinking this is actually the finals of the Olympics and I could come away being the Olympic champion is just like wow.
“For sure I’ve had some luck and you need a bit of luck in this sport to excel and that has come today. I don’t know what I did to deserve that but I obviously did something right along the way.”
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