The junior women’s pair finished fourth and the junior men’s pair finished eighth on Wednesday, the final day of racing at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China.
In the women’s pair, the duo of Marlee Blue (Ashland, Ore.) and Dana Moffat (Manlius, N.Y.) went for the victory, taking the 1,000-meter race out hard. Blue and Moffat led the field at 500 meters but couldn’t hold on for a medal over the second half of the race.
With the top three finishers being separated by less than half a second, Romania’s Denisa Tilvescu and Cristina Popescu won the gold medal in a time of 3:37.32, with China’s Jie Pan and Yadan Luo taking silver in a 3:37.52. Canada’s Caileigh Filmer and Larissa Werbicki won the bronze medal in a 3:37.75. Blue and Moffat finished in a 3:39.25.
Racing in the B final of the junior men’s pair, Liam Corrigan (Old Lyme, Conn.) and Benjamin Cohen (Allentown, Pa.) also led their race through the midway point before Greece’s Thomas Karamitros and Nikolaos Kakouris overtook them in the final stretch. Greece crossed the line in a 3:18.90, with the U.S. 0.53 seconds behind in a 3:19.43.
The 2014 Youth Olympic Games, which run August 16-28, feature more than 3,800 athletes participating in 28 sports. The Games are designed as a sporting event for young people, balancing sport, education and culture.
The vision of the Youth Olympic Games is to inspire young people around the world to participate in sport and adopt and live by the Olympic values. It was during its session in Guatemala in July 2007 that the IOC decided to create a new sporting event to educate, engage and influence young athletes inspiring them to play an active role in their communities.
In addition to the two U.S. crews, two-time Olympic gold medalist Erin Cafaro was chosen by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as an Athlete Role Model for the event. Selected by the 28 International Federations whose sports will be featured at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, the list of 37 athletes features many legendary names from the world of sport, including Olympic and world champions. Cafaro was the only rower and one of five U.S. athletes selected. Others include USA Archery’s Khatuna Lorig, USA Track & Field’s Dwight Phillips, U.S. Fencing’s Miles Chamley-Watson and USA Weightlifting’s Kendrick Farris.
For more information, visit the official Nanjing 2014 website at www.nanjing2014.org.