Canadians DNS in the Men's Pair
The Canadian men's pair chose not to race today as they appealed of FISA's decision not to let them row in a 7-boat A final to the Court of Arbitration of Sport; they did not want to row the B final in case they were allowed to row the A final. At last report, the Court had decided not to hear the case; if this changes, I'll post info asap. The Canadians have been very strong-spoken about the issue; here's what they had to say today, apparently before they decided not to row the B final:
Canadian Olympic Rowing Update: the men's pair was excluded from the Olympic regatta after today's semi following a protest by the South African pair and the subsequent decision by the regatta officials. FISA, the international rowing federation, finally ruled that Canada (Chris Jarvis of St. Catharines, Ont. and Dave Calder of Victoria, B.C.) are not allowed to advance to the final medal round, but could row in the B final (for places 7 to 12.)
Quotes re: Men's Pair...
Chris Jarvis:
"This a heartbreaking decision on several levels.
First, we displayed medal potential the entire race. If FISA is willing to change the ruling to allow us to race, why not allow us to race in the final that we have qualified for?
Rowing in the B final is not a sensible outcome of today's race. The just solution would have been to allow us to row a seven-boat final and let all the deserving pairs have an opportunity at a medal and to continue our Olympic dream."
Dave Calder:
"To get to this level, I have made countless sacrifices. I have spent years, rowing thousands of kilometres for this week of competition. I have put my life on hold only to have all these efforts destroyed by this decision. I have missed half of my daughter's life by being on the road all summer and now to be disqualified is very difficult to swallow.
This will be my last Olympics and I trained to bring home a medal to prove to myself, my family and my country that the effort was worth it. My Olympic dream has been eliminated by today's decision."
Mike Spracklen, Canadian men's coach:
"FISA could have been more compassionate and appreciate what this regatta means to the athletes. They have demonstrated in this case that they are not athlete-centered."
Brian Richardson, Canadian head coach:
"It's an incredibly weak decision made without the best interests of the athletes in mind.... The only fair solution, in a situation where there is room for interpretation, is to have a seven-boat final."
Injuries in Two Favored Light Men's Doubles
There's a lot of heart-breaking backstory on the light men's double; first, defending world champ Italian stroke Pettinari has had a broken rib all week, and has apparently gotten a little worse as the week went on.
And in the Irish double, the day before the heats, Sam Lynch was cutting some bread and sliced his finger very badly. Lynch fainted on the spot, luckily falling onto a couch, but the cut required several stitches, and has clearly affected his performance. The next day, his partner almost blacked out with severely low blood pressure.
Hacker Had a Pig
Hacker was racing with his stuffed Gluckscwein (German for pig) in the back of the footwell - pigs are considered lucky in Germany. The expression for "You got lucky" in German translates as "You had a pig."
After winning the B final pretty easily, he raised his arms in the air, reached down for the pig, held it up to the crowd, and kissed it.
Winning is Winning
Almost every B final winner today punched the air with their index finger raised; a win is a win, and God knows winning any race at the Games is tough. It would probably be too difficult to raise both hands in some combination of seven anyway...
In winning the C final, Brazilian men's single sculler Anderson Nocetti threw his hands in the air and promptly went into the drink. Yo Rich Montgomery, you have to have a beer with that guy!
Rough Day for US Crews
With three fourth places and a fifth in three-to-go semis, and middle and back of the pack ifinishes n the B finals, it was very tough day today for US crews and fans. Steve and Greg's race from behind tactic saw them giving away too much water to the three frontrunners, and they could not work their way back near qualifying contention; I think the standard is too high in the last regatta of the year, and the last regatta of the quadrennial, to race on sense, not sensation. The toughest race to watch was the light women's double, who missed the A final by a blink in a very tight field in which the lead changed several times.
Kids of Rowers
Liz Miles writes: "Mariel Zagunis, who got a gold medal in fencing yesterday, is the daughter of Cathy & Bob(?) Zagunis who I think were on the '76 Olympic rowing team, if not other national teams."
And from Jamie Koven: "Thanks for your coverage. It's great to have you over there feeding us info. I didn't think I'd miss it until racing started Saturday. We've got a women's double in the making, Annabel Frances Koven was born on Monday night. Look for Annabel and Lucy in 2028."
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