LONDON - The athletes are still waiting for racing to begin, but at least they now know who they will face in the opening heats Saturday morning at the 2012 Olympic Games venue at Eton Dorney following the official draw this afternoon.
First up for the United States will be the women's quadruple sculls crew of Adrienne Martelli (University Place, Wash.), Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif.), Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis.) and Natalie Dell (Clearville, Pa.).
The U.S. will be racing in the first heat against three crews including China and Germany. Only the winner will advance to the final with the rest going to the repechage, or second chance race.
The U.S. took silver in the event last summer in Bled, Slovenia at the world championships, but Germany is the reigning world champion and they are the odds on favorite to win again. The crew includes top single sculler and Olympic medalist Annkatrin Thiele and veteran Britta Oppelt.
Following them will be the men's eight crew of coxswain Zach Vlahos (Piedmont, Calif.), Brett Newlin (Riverton, Wyo.), Jake Cornelius (Brooktondale, N.Y.), Steve Kasprzyk (Cinnaminson, N.J.), Giuseppe Lanzone (Annandale, Va.), Will Miller (Duxbury, Mass.), Grant James (DeKalb, Ill.), Ross James (DeKalb, Ill.) and David Banks (Potomac, Md.).
The crew will race Australia, Ukraine and Poland, with only the winner advancing to the final. The U.S. should do well in this heat, as they do not face reigning Olympic champion Canada or current world champion Germany, which has not lost since 2009. Australia and Poland will be stiff competition, however, having finished first and second at last month's final stage of the Samsung World Rowing Cup series.
The men's quadruple sculls is the next boat to race. The crew of Elliot Hovey (Manchester-By-The-Sea, Mass.), Peter Graves (Cincinnati, Ohio), Alex Osborne (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and Wes Piermarini (West Brookfield, Mass.) will race in the first heat against Italy, Spain, Russia and France. The top three boats will advance to the semifinals.
Among the early favorites in this event is Croatia and Australia, rowing in the second heat. Russia won gold in 2004 and is hoping to do it again this year after setting a world best time earlier this season.
In the men's pair, Silas Stafford (Santa Rosa, Calif.) and Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) will race in the second heat against The Netherlands, Canada and Australia with the top three crews advancing to the semifinal.
Stafford and Peszek were the last pair cut from the eight camp and earned their chance at Olympic glory at the Olympic Trials last month.
The pair avoided the undefeated-since-2009 crew of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray of New Zealand, who are racing in the first heat, but will have to get through Canada's David Calder and Scott Frandsen. Calder and Frandsen were silver medalists in the pair at the Beijing Games and came back together to finish second to Bond and Murray in Lucerne earlier this year.
Following the pair, Ken Jurkowski (New Fairfield, Conn.) will race in the last of six heats in the men's single sculls. The first three finishers will advance to the quarterfinals. The Beijing Olympian finished 11th in the event last year at the world championships and will go up against Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, who is among the favorites to win gold.
Last up on Saturday in the women's single sculls is Gevvie Stone (Newton, Mass.). Stone will row in the fifth of five heats and will face Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, who comes into this Olympics with five Olympic medals. Four scullers will advance to the quarterfinals.