These tears touch the heart: In 2021, Ricarda Funk (32) became Germany’s Olympic heroine, winning gold in the canoe slalom. In Paris, she missed the medals in the slalom and cross, and after the disappointments she took stock in tears.
On Monday (5 August 2024), Funk had to say goodbye to her last hope of a medal; in the quarterfinals of the newly introduced competition, she came last in the second run. The athlete’s reflection on her Olympic participation caused her to cry bitterly in an interview with ZDF.
Ricarda Funk leaves in tears – Lilik celebrates with bronze winner Hegge
Funk was not only emotionally scarred, she had already thrown everything into the dream of another medal in the previous days, and had also sustained a bleeding wound during the cross-country competition. The scratch on her nose that remained on Monday clearly showed the toughness of the newly introduced Olympic competition.
Funk therefore said of her race: “We were all in one place, I was really attacked, I even tried to attack myself.” She got hit in the face by the tip of her rival Maialen Chourraut’s (41) boat in a narrow spot, a slow motion replay showed the painful moment on TV. It was a “brutal sport,” Funk said.
In the end, however, she was unable to leave her competitors behind in the tough race in the rushing water. “Those were my Olympic Games,” Funk said, before folding her hands over her helmet and starting to cry again.
Getting used to the cross mode, which Funk had previously not described as her specialty, cost her a lot of strength and determination. “I actually started every day with a few tears,” Funk admitted.
Compatriot Elena Lilik (25), who had already won silver in the canoe slalom, made it through the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, but then narrowly failed in her second attempt at a medal. In the final with four riders, she came last and was therefore the only finalist not to win a medal.
A little later, Noah Hegge (25) paddled to bronze and was celebrated in the water by Lilik, who had euphorically thrown herself into the canal and hugged Hegge tightly. These were scenes that ensured a conciliatory end to the Olympics for the German canoe aces, despite Ricarda Funk’s tears.
