MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - Maxim Opalev won Russia's 18th gold medal of the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a come-from-behind victory Saturday in the men's canoe single 500m final.
The gold takes Russia past Britain into third in the overall medals table.
Opalev now has a complete set of Olympic medals - he won silver in Sydney in 2000 and bronze in Athens last time around.
The Russian came from fifth at the halfway stage to win in 1:47.140.
Spain's David Cal won silver, finishing more than a second behind the Russian, while Ukrainian Yury Cheban took the bronze.
