Defending Olympic champion Andreas Dittmer of Germany failed to qualify for the men's canoe flatwater single (C1) 500m at the Beijing Olympic Games on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Dittmer finished fourth in one minute, 53.182 seconds in the first semifinal, 1.675 seconds slower than third finisher Li Qiang of China. The top three go to the final scheduled on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Dittmer qualified for the final of the C1 1,000m after a hard second-chance race.

The German won the C1 1,000m silver in Athens. He also took the C2 1,000m title in Atlanta and the C1 1,000m title in Sydney.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)