LUCERNE, Switzerland - The U.S. lightweight men's double sculls and men's quadruple sculls earned spots in the 2004 Olympic Games, while women's single sculler Jennifer Devine kept her hopes for Athens alive on the third day of competition at the 2004 Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The duo of Steve Tucker (Mooresville, Ind.) and Greg Ruckman (Cincinnati, Ohio), who were both members of the 2000 Olympic Team, won the final of the lightweight men's double sculls to earn its berth in the Olympic Games. Tucker and Ruckman started off in sixth position before moving into second place at the 1,000-meter mark. The tandem then passed Belgium to take command of the race, clocking a 6:25.59 to finish 2.20 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic. With the top four boats qualifying for the Olympics, Slovakia and Belgium claimed the other two spots.
"I was pretty confident with 500- or 600-meters to go, but you aren't really comfortable until you have 10 strokes to go and you know you could kind of coast it out if you had to," Tucker said. "We definitely pushed the whole way."
With only six boats entered, the men's quadruple sculls quartet of Kent Smack (Clinton, N.J.), Brett Wilkinson (Hyde Park, N.Y.), Sloan DuRoss (Old Orchard Beach, Maine), and Ben Holbrook (Hartland, Wis.) did not have a heat in which to test its speed. The crew had one race to get it right and it did, finishing second and qualifying for the Games. The crew got off the line fast and held the lead at the 1,000-meter mark before comfortably coming home in second place. Ukraine won the race, clocking a time of 5:51.03. The U.S. finished in a 5:56.30, more than five seconds ahead of third-place Belgium.
"Six months ago, none of us had ever rowed together," Smack said. "...We worked very hard on our start and the first 1,000 (meters). By the time 1,000 came around, we really felt we controlled the race (for a qualifying spot) and that we could take it home from there."
Unfortunately, the women's double sculls tandem of Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.) and Carol Skricki (Norwood, Mass.) just missed a berth to the Games after finishing third in the final. Piotrowski and Skricki sat in fourth position at the 1,500-meter mark before making a furious run towards the top two positions and a qualifying spot. The duo took its stroke rate up to 43 strokes per minute to pull even with, if not slightly ahead of, the French crew with about 150 meters to go. However, France had enough left in its tank to inch back in front with only a few strokes to go. France clocked a 7:00.90 to finish second, with the U.S. finishing 0.45 seconds behind in a 7:01.35. Bulgaria led from wire-to-wire, clocking a 6:59.26 to win the race.
Devine, the Portland, Ore., native, easily won her semifinal of the women's single sculls to advance to Wednesday's final. Racing in the second of two semifinals, Devine took the lead during the second quarter of the race, building a 1.49-second advantage at the 1,000-meter mark. She then pulled away from the competition over the final half of the race, clocking a 7:40.40 to defeat Great Britain's Alex Beever by 6.10 seconds. Poland's Julia Michalska finished third in a time of 7:47.78. In the first semifinal, Sweden's Frida Svensson clocked a 7:43.32 to defeat the Netherlands' Femke Dekker by 1.56 seconds. Latvia's Kristiana Rode-Gulova finished third in a 7:46.82, claiming the last spot in the final.
Others earning berths into the 2004 Olympic Games included Bulgaria's Ivo Yanakiev, Belgium's Tim Maeyens and Great Britain's Ian Lawson in the men's single sculls; Bulgaria and New Zealand in the women's pair; Germany and Argentina in the men's pair; Germany, Norway and Poland in the men's double sculls; the Czech Republic and Croatia in the men's four; Poland and Denmark in the lightweight women's double sculls; Serbia and Montenegro and Austria in the lightweight men's four; Russia in the women's quadruple sculls; the Netherlands and China in the women's eight; and the Netherlands and Poland in the men's eight.
The regatta concludes on Wednesday with the final of the women's single sculls beginning at 5 p.m. local time.
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Quotes
Steve Tucker, Lightweight Men's Double Sculls .on making the Olympics through the qualifying regatta instead of the world championships "In retrospect, that would have been the easier route, not having the whole year to think about the qualification regatta. It's just like a regatta that ends with the semifinals. It's a regatta that seems like it only has the down side of not qualifying. Usually, the final is kind of a reward, where you can only do better. Out there, it's a lot of pressure all the way until the end."
.on feeling like a weight has been lifted off of their shoulders "Qualifying, that lifts the biggest weight . to be qualified and all done with selection."
.on the sprint "I was pretty confident with 500- or 600-meters to go, but you aren't really comfortable until you have 10 strokes to go and you know you could kind of coast it out if you had to. We definitely pushed the whole way."
Greg Ruckman, Lightweight Men's Double Sculls .on the last 500 meters "I just really focused on the technique and metering out how much you have left to give. I was really focused there, listening to Steve, and feeling the boat - not thinking about anything else."
.on qualifying for his second Games "It's great. You look at the people who do well in the Games and they've usually been there before, paid their dues. Steve and I have both gone once before, so we'll see what happens."
Brett Wilkinson, Men's Quadruple Sculls .on qualifying for the Games "It's great. The boat is really rowing well together. It kind of got put together at the last minute. We had been rowing in doubles all year. The four of us were all rowing in different boats. We have a lot of sculling experience, in general, with all of us being single scullers for the last four years. It's been a great month for us with everyone really meshing together well."
.on how tough it was to have only a final and no heats "It is difficult but all of us have a lot of experience racing internationally, so it's not a big deal. It's just like going out and trying to win the heat. In this case, we could come in second and still go on. We did a piece a couple of days ago and (no heat) was not a factor."
.on his high school having three Olympians in the last four Olympics "I think so. I know for a fact one was (rower) Pat Manning. He was an inspiration for me when I was at FDR High School. When I was a sophomore, seeing a guy from my high school go on to win a silver medal showed me that I at least had a shot of getting there. I graduated college six years ago and high school 10 years ago. Each year, I've just increased my goals a little more."
Ben Holbrook, Men's Quadruple Sculls .racing only a final and no heats "I think that was actually not bad for us. This boat has been really consistent since we've been together, and it was just one more piece for us to execute. We did it just the way we wanted to."
Kent Smack, Men's Quadruple Sculls .on the race "Six months ago, none of us had ever rowed together. This was the first time that we had gone through a very deep selection process, and we felt confident putting together a solid boat. We worked very hard on our start and the first 1,000 (meters). By the time 1,000 came around, we really felt we controlled the race (for a qualifying spot) and that we could take it home from there. So right from there, we just lengthened out and took it straight to the finish line."
J. Sloan DuRoss, Men's Quadruple Sculls .on qualifying for the Games "It's great. We're going to Athens. Now we go back for another month and a half and try to find some more boat speed."
includes quotes from crew members; congrats and condolences from row2k; well-fought