Andreas Dittmer

Andreas Dittmer
Personal information
Born	16 April 1972 (age 51); Neustrelitz, East Germany
Medal record
Men's canoe sprint
Olympic Games
World Championships

Last updated April 01, 2024

Andreas Dittmer (born 16 April 1972 in Neustrelitz, Bezirk Neubrandenburg) is a German sprint canoeist. The dominant sprint canoeist of his generation in 1000 m races, he has won three Olympic and eight world championship gold medals.

Dittmer won his first world championship medal - a bronze - at Paris in 1991 as a member of Germany's C-4 500 m crew. In 1994 he won the C-2 1000 m world championship with Gunar Kirchbach. At the 1996 Olympics the pair won the gold medal in the same event.

Now established as Germany's top canoe sprinter he was selected for the C-1 event and won the C-1 1000 m world title at his first attempt in Dartmouth, Canada in 1997.

At Sydney 2000 he won the C-1 1000 m gold as well as the bronze in the 500 m race. He then won three consecutive C-1 1000 m world titles (2001, 2002, 2003). In 2003 he also won his first world 500 m title, finally defeating four-time champion Maxim Opalev of Russia to claim his first "double". At the European championships too he won three straight gold medals in his specialist 1000 m event, but had to be content with four consecutive silver medals behind Opalev in the 500 m.

Dittmer went to the 2004 Summer Olympics as the overwhelming favourite for the 1000 m gold medal, having been undefeated in major finals for over four years.. However he was surprisingly beaten by Spain's David Cal, who finished just 0.52 second ahead of Dittmer's time of 3:46.721.

In the C-1 500 m final Dittmer gained his revenge, edging out Cal by 0.34 seconds, to win the gold medal in a time of 1:46.383, with 500 m specialist Opalev pushed back into third place.

Dittmer's sister, Anja Dittmer, also competed at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. She is a triathlete.

In 2005 he reasserted his authority over 1000 m, winning his fourth European C-1 gold medal in Poznań. At the world championships, held in Zagreb, he again doubled up winning his fourth consecutive C-1 1000 m gold as well as a second C-1 500 m title.

His run of success at the European championships finally came to an end in 2006 when he was defeated by Romania's Florin Mironcic in the 1000 m final in Račice, Czech Republic.

At the 2006 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Dittmer suffered the misfortune of being disqualified in the C-1 500 m heats. He also lost his 1000 m crown as Mexico's Everardo Cristóbal won a shock victory ahead of the second-placed Dittmer.

Dittmer earned a silver in the C-1 500 m event at the 2007 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg. He went on to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but did not medal in any of the C-1 events.

As of 2009, Dittmer has a total of 22 world championship medals.

Related Research Articles

Stephen Giles is a Canadian sprint canoeist who competed from the early 1990s to the mid 2000s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won the bronze in the C-1 1000 m event at Sydney in 2000.

Yuriy Volodymyrovych Cheban is a retired Ukrainian sprint canoeist. He is the 2012 and 2016 Olympic champion in C-1 200 metres.

Maksim Alexandrovich Opalev is a retired Russian sprint canoeist. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he has won a complete set of medals in the C-1 500 m event.

David Cal Figueroa is a Spanish sprint canoeist who has competed since 1999. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he has won five medals with a gold and four silvers. With this latest medal in the London 2012 Olympic Games, he became the Spanish athlete with more Olympic medals of all time.

Attila Vajda is a Hungarian sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics he has won two medals in the C-1 1000 m event with a gold in 2008 and a bronze in 2004.

The 2005 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Zagreb, Croatia, in August 2005.

Aleksandr Viktorovich Kostoglod is a Soviet-born, Russian sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 1990s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won three medals, with two silvers and one bronze. Kostoglod is a six-time world champion gold medallist in the Canadian canoe (C) events.

Ledis Frank Balceiro Pajon is a Cuban sprint canoeist who competed from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.

Tomasz Wylenzek is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since the early 2000s.

Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kovalyov is a Russian sprint canoeist who has competed from 1997 to 2005.

Lutz Altepost is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since the late 1990s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the K-4 1000 m event at Beijing in 2008.

The 2006 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held in Szeged, Hungary, from August 17 to 20 2006. This was the second time the Hungarian city had hosted the championships, doing so previously in 1998.

José Everardo Cristóbal Quirino is a Mexican sprint canoeist who has been competing since 2005.

Gunar Kirchbach is a German sprint canoer who competed in the mid-to-late 1990s. He won a gold medal in the C-2 1000 m event at the 1996 Summer Olympics, together with teammate Andreas Dittmer.

Ulrich Papke is an East German-German sprint canoeist who competed from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. He won two medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona with a gold in the C-2 1000 m event and a silver in the C-2 500 m event.

The 2003 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships were held September 10–14, 2003 in Gainesville, Georgia, United States at Lake Lanier. Located north of Atlanta, this was also where the canoe sprint and rowing events for the 1996 Summer Olympics took place.

Thomas Hall, is an Olympic sprint canoeist from Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada. Training with the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, he began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships. By the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. At the Beijing Olympic Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event.

Lyubomir Lyubenov is a Bulgarian sprint canoeist who competed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, he won a gold in the C-1 1000 m event and a silver in the C-1 500 m event.

Mirko Nišović is a Serbian retired sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1970s to the late 1980s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won two medals at Los Angeles in 1984 with a gold in the C-2 500 m and a silver in the C-2 1000 m events, in team with Matija Ljubek.

Marcel Renaud was a French sprint and slalom canoeist who competed in the 1940s and the 1950s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won a silver medal in the C-2 10000 m event at Melbourne in 1956. Renaud also won a bronze medal in the K-4 1000 m at the 1954 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships at Mâcon. In canoe slalom, he won a gold medal in the C-1 team event at the 1949 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Geneva.

References

"ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved May 19, 2019.
"ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2019-05-19.
Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Andreas Dittmer". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.