They have been waiting for this moment for years in the shadow of the famous twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner, the triple Olympic champions who wrote history in the men's double canoe discipline. But at their official debut on an Olympic canal, Ladislav and Peter Škantár managed to step on the highest ladder of the podium and win Slovakia's first gold medal in Rio. Success runs in families it seems as the two are cousins. "These feelings are beyond description. We're extremely happy. We longed for a medal so much; it hasn't dawned on us yet. This was mentally challenging - the Olympic Games were quite likely our last, after all, we're not the youngest anymore," said the 33 year old Ladislav Škantár while his team mate Peter Škantár added: "I don't even know what to say. It's awesome. The past couple of days were anything but easy. But these feelings are awesome," The Škantár cousins broughta second medal to Slovakia following the silver medal won by Matej Beňuš in C1 on Tuesday.
Kayak slalomer Jana Dukátová was very close to bringing the second medal of the day to the Slovak team. She, however, finished 4th, a result which disappointed her even if it is an improvement of two places in comparison to the London Olympics. "Some people may say that 4th place at the Olympics is a good result but I came here to win a medal,"said Dukátová, adding that she does not want to talk about her future in such an emotional state but she thanked her team and supporters for their help in the past four years.
