Germany wins gold in women's 500-meter K-2

Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze of Germany won gold in the women's 500-meter K-2 at Dorney Lake on Thursday, denying their Hungarian rivals a third straight Olympic title in the event.

The Germans led from start to finish to win in 1 minute, 42.213 seconds. Katalin Kovacs and Natasa Douchev-Janics of Hungary took silver and Karolina Naja and Beata Mikolajczyk of Poland won bronze.

Weber and Dietze were part of a German quartet whose 16-year dominance of the 500-meter K-4 was ended on Wednesday by a Hungarian boat containing Kovacs.

But they bounced back to reclaim the title last won for Germany by two of their greatest Olympians - Birgit Fischer and Katrin Wagner-Augustin - in 2000.