If the spares race is any indication, US sculling is looking good these days - Warren Anderson won the men's spares race today very nearly rowing away from the field. The spares race also serves as a dry run for FISA, broadcasters, support staff, and even the medal presentation ladies - the top three from the women's single were treated to the full medals ceremony (sans medals, of course and alas); they even played God Save the Queen in honor of the British winner of the race. She was as much amused with the pomp as anything else; it seemed that all went well, in any case.
The fog/smog continues to make for a somewhat dreary tableau on the course, but the level of rowing is of course very high, and the athletes seem little affected. High-ish temps and extremely high humidity is a bit of an issue - several crews ran to put on ice jackets immediately after their rows, and some even donned them for a trip or two. The Polish men's eight, in particular, used this tactic; after two roundtrips in standard gear, the crew reappeared for a final trip in lightweight shirts with cooling strips in them.
While the US women's pair rowed today, leaving Brett Sickler to hold down the five seat in the women's eight, all of the US lineups were intact and rowing hard; word is that the team is healthy and ready. Few athletes at the course appeared to be making much noise about the air quality; in the end, everyone is racing in the same conditions, and they seem more inclined to worry about getting ready to race than complaining about the haze.
It is exceptionally humid, however; scullers are working hard to keep their grips from getting too slippery, and tshirts and unis are soaked through and dripping after just a trip. This and the early start to racing explains somewhat the low participation in the spares races; with the prospect of having to turn around and sub for someone in a race tomorrow afternoon pretty much defining the spares job, you don't want to have to dig too deep on Friday if you end up racing on Saturday or even Sunday.
Which isn't to say that Warren didn't have enthusiastic encouragement; a small peloton of coaches and teammates, led by Kris Korzeniowski as well as Sam Stitt, followed on their bikes and enthusiastically cheered Anderson's win.
While we have been doing our best with limited information with respect to television schedules, it's still a hard thing to pin down even this late in the game; when I left the course mid-afternoon, NBC's schedule was still in flux. It does sound like NBC will be airing the heats racing on NBC proper during the day on Saturday and Sunday, and then rowing is headed for the USA Network for a few days at least.
The whole town is infected with Opening Ceremonies fever; it turns out that not very many rowers will be attending, as rowing is one of the few sports that starts competition in earnest on Saturday. I believe Chris Liwski and record 11-time Olympian Ted Nash will represent United States rowing at the Bird's Nest tonight. Note also that, in his sixth Olympics, Australian oarsman James Tomkins will be the flag bearer for the entire Australian squad. It's great to see an oarsman get the nod for this job, and James does have a US connection, as he was the coach of the men's four a few years back.
Saturday's draw for US crews is formidable; Michelle Guerette is racing Neykova, the men's double is racing the Waddell-powered NZ double, and the men's four drew Great Britain. Racing starts at 1:50pm local time, which corresponds to 1:50am Eastern time. Check our resources and feature for the full details.
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