Canada qualified three more boats for the Olympics - the women's eight, men's pair and lightweight men's double - on the final day of the Qualification Regatta in Poland today.
The women won their race in 6:15.37, with the Netherlands coming a very close second (6:15.71) to also qualify, leaving a crushed third-place Chinese crew in their wake (6:17.53). China will not have a women's eight crew at this Olympics - Belarus, New Zealand and Russia also missed out on a berth.
"I can remember at one point, Lesley, our coxswain, saying: 'You're in third... but be confident, it's a long race.' I could feel everyone in the crew relax and add just a little bit more per stroke - we were already surging at the half-way point for the finish line," said crew member and 2004 Olympian Darcy Marquardt. "We knew we had a strong finishing sprint from other races but you never want to rely on past performances. We stuck to our plan, stayed in our lane, and kept focused on each other. I think idea of eight acting as one and keeping our heads was a huge part of our result today."
The women's eight is Jane Rumball of Fredericton, N.B., Marquardt of Richmond, B.C., Buffy Williams of St. Catharines, Ont., Romina Stefancic of Victoria, B.C, Ashley Brzozowicz of Toronto, Ont., Sarah Bonikowsky of Orangeville, Ont., Andreane Morin of Montreal, Que., Heather Mandoli of Kelowna, B.C., and Lesley Thompson-Willie of London, Ont.
"Today we went out to execute our race plan. We were internally focused on our task at hand and tried to not think about the outcome until after crossing the finish line," said Morin. "It was about capturing the moment, focusing on one stroke at a time. We accomplished just that, it paid off right to the last few strokes! We will enjoy this moment and celebrate a bit today, but tomorrow we are back to business, training and preparing for the World Cup Regatta (also in Poznan, Poland) this weekend."
The men's pair dominated at this regatta, winning each race including today's final. Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C. and Dave Calder of Victoria. B.C. won in 6:44.28, with Italy picking up the second Olympic spot in 6:46.62.
"We are relieved to have won," said Frandsen right after the race. Both Fransden and Calder were at the 2004 Olympics - Frandsen in the eight that finished fifth and Calder in the pair that was disqualified, but now have a chance for a more successful outcome after strong showings at the recent Lucerne World Cup, where they won gold, and today's first-place finish.
A mix of skill and luck worked today for the lightweight men's double of Douglas Vandor of Dewittville, Que. and Cameron Sylvester of Caledon, Ont. They were third in their event in 6:30.37, after New Zealand (6:26.88) and Portugal (6:29.46). It was announced earlier this week that the third-place crew in this event would also earn an Olympic invite. Canada beat out the Czech Republic (finishing in fourth in 6:30.73) by just fractions of a second for this final spot.
"Overall it was a good race and we qualified. The theme has been not to take any other crews lightly and it paid dividends today; we kept on pushing through and it was close at the end," said Sylvester.
It was close, but disappointing, for two of Canada's other crews at the regatta - the men's four was third (missing out to second-place China by just over a second) and the men's quad was fourth (with only the top two going to Beijing in both of these categories).
Today, 29 boats were added to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games regatta. Overall, Australia has qualified in every single event for Beijing. Germany and the United States made it up to 13 out of the possible 14 events.
Canada now has boats in eight Olympic events (men's eight, women's eight, women's quad, lightweight men's four, men's pair, women's pair, lightweight men's double and lightweight women's double).
"We are very proud of the performances of the Canadian crews today in Poland," said Rowing Canada's VP High Performance Phil Monckton "Not only did the three crews qualify for the Olympics, but they are showing speed that really bodes well for our chances at the Games. However, we know there is always more work to be done and we'll be very focused from now until Olympic regatta."
Rowing's nominations to the Canadian Olympic Committee will be made on June 24.