Sport, of course, and the Czech Republic have won their first gold medal of the Sidney Olympic Games. Stepanka Hilgertova repeated her success at the Atlanta Games four years ago by taking the gold in the Women's Kayak Singles Slalom. According to Miroslav Konvalina of Czech Radio, however, although the result comes as no surprise to followers of the sport, it was certainly one for Hilgertova herself: Hilgertova made no mistakes in her efforts to overtake her main rival for the gold, Brigitte Guibal, in the second run. The Frenchwoman had been leading after the first leg. She said after the race that "winning a second gold medal is better than winning your first!"
It was the Czech Republic's second medal at the games so far; on Sunday Jan Rehula won the bronze in the Men's Triathlon. Canada's Simon Whitfield took the gold with Stephen Vuckovic of Germany the silver.
So not a bad start to the Games then for the Czech team. Miroslav Konvalina again: Can't think that the Czech Olympic Football Team are feeling too jolly, though. They crashed to a shock 3-2 defeat to Kuwait in their second group match and now have to beat Cameroon in their final match to stand any chance of making the last eight.
