Again today we will be posting full streaming audio files of interviews, along with transcripts, so again for today here's a quick report, leaving most of the talking to the folks who did the racing.
Light women's double
The second semifinal of this event was a particularly wild race; the Canadians early gambit of trying to run away with the race seemed very brave and possibly dangerous. In the end it proved almost prescient, as they almost entirely avoided the fingernail fight that took place right behind them. Check out the splits and final times for this race, it was a truly great one. The US crew paced in third for some time before falling all the way back sixth; but even then it was only a couple second from second to sixth. They clawed their way through the field, but may have started to late, ran out of juice, or a little combination of both, and missed the A final by sixteen one-hundredths.
Kirsten van der Kolk (NED)
"It was close. Our performance was okay. We can do better and we also can do worse. The final will be open, but everyone has the chance to get on to the podium. You really need to fight."
Marit Van Eupen (NED)
"You could say that we have preserved some strength for the final. We don't think about rivals, we just focus on ourselves."
Malanie KOK (CAN)
"I think the Olympics is a different level altogether, we needed to take a different approach from the approach that we took in our first heat. We have confidence in our speed."
"We want medals for ourselves, so the media doesn't add to the pressure. We're not in the Olympic Village so feel a bit like in a bubble, isolated from the hubbub. This is good but we look forward to experiencing the excitement next week. We were successful in Poznan, but didn't sit on our laurels here. After the day's racing we do everyday stuff, and we don't talk about rowing."
Tracy Cameron (CAN)
"This is our first season together, each time we go down the line we step it up a notch. We have looked at the video of our last performance, analyzed it and improved but today I thought we nailed it. We'll be doing the same again, looking at the video of this performance, analyzing it and getting a few pointers. Hopefully we can have our best race of the lot."
"The race was very businesslike and task orientated. In the heats we were too external, but after we watched the video we found key points that we could concentrate on during the race. We rowed within ourselves and the chips fell into place. Our fast start wasn't exactly intentional but we won't change it."
Berit Annika Carow (GER)
"We didn't expect the Finns to start so strong and we had to push ourselves to stay with them. We wanted to set a benchmark for the final. Tomorrow we are looking for gold. In this tight field there is so much in it and it's up to the athlete with the strongest heart to win gold."
Marie-Louise Drager (GER)
On their coach being ill: "The change of trainers has been a shock. He has been ill for the last three days. The whole German camp has been affected by certain athletes being ill. Anything is possible and we will row our heart out to get a medal."
Berit CAROW (GER)
"I guess it was a good race because we qualified for the A Final and you are never sure in this tough field. The cheering from the grandstands helps a lot, although it's a bit misleading; normally you can only hear the crowd in the last 250m, but here the grandstands are much nearer the start too. Before the race we agreed 'Let's do it for our coach', who is sick with flu and not here today."
Chrysi BISKITZI (GRE)
"We were the outsiders in this race. Our heat wasn't so good, but we've gradually found it in our boat. We willed ourselves to have enough strength to do it and we gave everything in that race. It was better to race today than yesterday... we had more time to recover from the repechage."
Helen CASEY (GBR)
"I'm really disappointed that we were 5th, because we truly believed that we could make an impact and reach the A Final. We have been sculling well. Hester (Goodsell) always calls a good race but we just didn't have the legs for it. The Netherlands were amazing and you always get a surprise from the Finns."
Light men's double
Reinholdt Mads Rasmussen (DEN)
"It's nice to be in the final. It was pretty hard. The Greek were faster than we had expected. Otherwise, China were as we thought they would be. In the final, we'd like it to be an open race. Our crew has been together for the longest time, but everyone out there has lots of experience too."
Marcello MIANI (ITA)
"The race went mostly as we had thought; we rowed like madmen to try to get in front, but felt in control and it was a well-planned race. We didn't need a big sprint in the last 500m. We'll have to see the other semifinal times but our performance gives us hope for the Final. We didn't beat Great Britain, but maintained contact with them throughout."
Mark HUNTER (GRB)
"It's good to get into the Final with a win in the semi. During the race we focused on being long and strong, especially in this headwind. We didn't get to watch the second semifinal because it's important to cool down and start to prepare for the next race. We've been watching other sports on TV and feeding off the energy of other athletes."
Vasileios POLYMEROS (GRE)
"Our goal was to get to the Final, we didn't mind which position in the first three. We pushed and pulled to 1500m then didn't have to work so hard... just keep the distance. We were confident; we had good signs in training and we feel good inside. My wife is the bow of the Greek LW2x; I won bronze in 2006, she got silver in 2007. We've never medalled together before so hope to achieve that this time."
Light men's four
This is a mean event, and you can't spot anyone anything; unfortunately, the weakness of the US boat all week has been a slow start, and they have not been able to overcome it despite some hopeful signs in practice the past couple days. Again they posted a final 1500 that might have got the job done, but at 500 gone they were almost five seconds off the leaders, and none among these other 10 crews (the Germans had to withdraw, so the other semi had only five crews) are inclined to let anyone come back from that.
Mads Christian Kruse Andersen (DEN)
"The headwind was to our advantage. We are a strong, physical team and that came through today. Great Britain hung on to the 1500m mark but they had to let go. We are heading for gold. We were a boat length for the preliminaries and almost a boat length clear in this semi so there is no doubt about it. We are going for gold. A lot of things can change in the Olympics. We beat the gold, silver, and bronze medalists from the world championships in this race, but a lot of things can happen."
James Lyndsay-Fynn (GBR)
"Form means nothing in this event. As people say: you are only as good as your last race."
Paul Mattick (GBR)
"It was a hard race - it's always going to be at the Olympics - but that was very tough. The Chinese, Germans, and Italians are all out, which is a massive shock."
Richard Chambers (GBR)
"We didn't have a perfect race there but our regatta has officially kicked off now. We now have a chance of gold."
Pawelczak (POL)
"We hope it will be the same outcome as this race, but the final is the final, there are new rules. Great Britain are a major threat and I think if the Germans had not been ill and pulled out they would definitely be A finalists."
Marshall GODSCHALK (NED)
"There was not much thinking at the end of that race, just concentrating on giving it all we had. It wasn't a big deal to have to postpone our race until today, we just had to switch off mentally yesterday and on again today. The cheering from the crowd was awesome. It made me think of my family. I'm doing this for them and everyone I know. It's sad that the Germans couldn't compete... they are good, but we always believed we could qualify. At the start I said 'Guys, we rowed well in the warm-up, we are good, we can do it'."
Milosz BERNATAJTYS (POL)
"We didn't expect to win, just hoped to be in the first three. This is our best result in four years. We didn't know what was happening, it was like we had wings."
James CLARKE (GBR)
"We went out pretty hard, particularly from 250m to 750m. We knew it was going to be tough. It was 'Get out early and get out of trouble', for which we paid the price later in the race, but it worked. Our goal has always been to get into the Final and it's a relief, because we knew we should be there. This Semifinal was more aggressive and less comfortable than the heat, but we reminded ourselves of how we like to row in a headwind, which we may have on Sunday. By the time we found out that racing was cancelled yesterday it was a relief, because the energy kind of goes out of us. Weighing in twice in one day is difficult. We're the last ones from Great Britain to qualify for the A Final... that's 10 boats, which is a massive step up from four in Athens."
Men's Quad
Scott Gault (USA)
"We planned to be a little aggressive in the race. We came off a little flat in that first race. In the first 1,000, we had a good start and stayed with Italy for the most part. They got away from us a little bit. It was a long race in the headwind. We really had to stave off a strong sprint from France and Estonia."
Matt Hughes (USA)
"The race went well. I think we executed the way we wanted to, so we're pretty pleased with things and can't wait for the final. The second 1,000, we just wanted to hold people off. We had position. We were going to the final. It wasn't about winning that race; it was about making the final, so we just tried to relax and make sure no one walked on us."
Stephan KRUEGER (GER)
"We are satisfied because we are in the Final, but not so satisfied because we hoped to be closer to the first two. Today the wind made conditions more difficult. Yesterday we were tense and ready to race, but the waiting has made us tired so we were not as ready today. To win a medal is the dream of us all, but it will be hard."
Rossano GALTAROSSA (ITA)
"The plan was to get in front early, and we knew we had to get out hard. We had something to prove. Estonia also performed well and we have 47 hours left before the Final."
James SCHROEDER (USA)
"We tried to put as much power as we could into every stroke. 'Keep driving, power like a machine'. It was fantastic to race today and not yesterday, because two of our crew were sick, but are much better now."
Simone Raineri (ITA)
"It was a tough race. Out competitors were very strong, but we are satisfied with the results. At the last part of the race, we gave it our all. We kept in unison and were able to build up our speed for the last few hundred meters."
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