Canada’s Mark de Jonge paddles to bronze in new Olympic event

Canadian 200 metre kayak specialist Mark de Jonge has sprinted to a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics.

The native of Calgary, who now lives in Halifax, just held off Maxime Beaumont, of France, to take third place in the first-time Olympic event. The outcome was in doubt, and officials first had to huddle and check a photo to declare that de Jonge had, indeed, just gotten the nose of his kayak acros the finish line before Beaumont. De Jonge finished 31/1000ths of a second ahead of the Frenchman.

[Slideshow: Mark de Jonge]

"Not at all, no," de Jonge told CTV moments after the race, when asked whether he knew he'd won a medal. "I knew I was right with the leader for most of the race and I was just trying to focus on what I had to do."

"I started to die at the end but I held on."

Great Britain's Ed McKeever won the gold, with Spain's Saul Craviatto Rivero taking the silver.

De Jonge's medal here seemed in doubt just a couple of months ago, when he broke a finger in a weight room accident, only three weeks before the Canadian Olympic Trials. However, he paddled well there and was able to earn a spot on the Olympic team.

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"This was the first international race I've had this year that was really high level, so I didn't really know what to expect, but, I was doing well in the race and I just had to squeeze out everything I had for that finish," said de Jonge.

As for the satisfaction level he feels over getting to the podium in light of his recent injury, de Jonge said:

"I was thinking about it last night and what happens if I don't get a medal. I think I'd be happy anyway. I don't think many people can say that they came back from an injury just a couple of months before the Olympics and did what I did. I'm really happy with a bronze."

It was a case of deja vu for de Jonge as he scored a bronze in the Olympic test race at Eton Dorney, last autumn, as well.

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It's Canada's 18th medal of the games, 12th bronze. It's the fifth medal won by Canadians at the Eton Dorney Rowing Basin. The men's and women's eights each won silver, while Adam van Koeverden took silver in the 1,000 metre kayak and Mark Oldershaw won bronze in the 1,000 metre canoe.

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