Rio 2016: bronze medalists Margarita Makhneva, Nadezhda Lepeshko, Olga Khudenko and Marina Litvinchuk

The kayak and canoe competitions at Rio’s Lagoa Stadium finally brought Belarus an Olympic medal, with the K4 team of Margarita Makhneva, Nadezhda Lepeshko, Olga Khudenko and Marina Litvinchuk clinching bronze on one of the final days of the Olympics.

Earlier, the Belarusian K2 team of Marina Litvinchuk and Nadezhda Lepeshko finished sixth, while Marina Litvinchuk was fourth in the K1 final where everything was decided by a dramatic photo finish. However, neither this misfortune nor the absence of the head coach in Rio, or winds that rose up ahead of the final heat hampered the athletes to fight for their chance.

Belarus clocked one minute 33.908 seconds in the K4 500m final giving way only to the teams of Hungary and Germany. Belarus repeated its success of the 2012 London Games.