For the finals today, row2k will be posting full streaming audio files of interviews, along with transcripts, so again for today here's a quick report, leaving the talking to the athletes who did the racing and won the medals.
Women's single
Rumyana NEYKOVA (BUL)
"I've waited for this gold for eight years. Every competitor is dreaming of one gold, and that's the Olympic gold."
"It feels really great. I owe everything to my husband (also coach) and my family who have supported and believed in me. Do I have any plans? No!"
Michelle GUERETTE (USA)
"The silver was my best race, and I'll take that. I was just thinking 'hang in there' the whole way and just go harder. I think I tried to play it a little bit different from the semifinal we were playing a different game. On her nerve as much as it was scary I knew I could push a little harder, but if you take your mind off the race for a second, boom, it's gone.. I knew that Karsten and Neykova were experienced enough to keep th exact speed, so I just pushed myself to keep with them. It was better than my best race."
"Hang in there, just hang in there. Go and go harder. Couldn't let up, and the whole field didn't let up either. Such a hard race. Tried to play it differently than the semifinal, because I knew there was a lot of early speed. I found I could sustain it, and just up it a little bit. Just tried to stay strong, stay fresh. At 500m I pushed a bit harder. 30 power strokes at the end which turned into 40-45. Just go! And it worked! This was better than my best race."
Ekaterina KARSTEN (BLR)
"For three years running, I've been used to winning, so seeing my result today is disappointing." On Neykova: "We've been friends and rivals since 1990. Some years she is better and other years I am."
"I did what I could, and tried to spread all my strength across the race and that's the result. On the competitors: the first is really strong but I am happy for myself, I will never know if I could have reached second."
"I saw that the Czech girl went out fast with Bulgaria following her. I was trying to keep my strength for the whole race and to have enough energy for the final sprint. I did what I could. Rumyana (Neykova) was losing all season and far behind, and if she could win here then she is stronger. I never thought that Michelle (Guerette) would come second."
Xiuyn ZHANG (CHN)
"I think my performance was okay. It's a pity I finished fourth but I tried my best. The most important spirit of the athlete is to persevere and I think every athlete is worth our admiration, no matter who got the medals. I plan to compete in our national sport meetings. I won't give up rowing. Although I finished fourth, my condition is not bad. I want to go on."
Men's single
Olaf TUFTE (NOR)
"This has been my goal for four years. I have had some injuries and some sickness that has been tough. The people around me have helped me through and now I've won gold. It was a very hard race and for a short time I thought that I had lost it. Today I didn't want to lose. Now I'm going home and getting married."
Mahe DRYSDALE (NZL)
"I just rowed myself to stupidity, it was hard but you have got to be the best you can be. I'm not making an excuse, I was sick, but it is the Olympics."
Lassi KARONEN (SWE)
"It wasn't my best race, I have performed much better this week. I've had a cold and fever that brought me down a little. It's so annoying because I only ever get sick maybe twice a year."
Milan Dolecek, CZE coach of Synek
"I have mixed feelings. I hoped Ondrej could fight for gold, but winning silver is nice. Ondrej is also a bit disappointed, because he had a good quarterfinal and semifinal. Tufte showed he is an experienced competitor. Ondrej can challenge for the next Olympics. He can improve and go for gold."
Women's pair
Georgeta Andrunache (ROM)
"We had to stick together as a team. We had to give up a lot of things and be dedicated. I'm very happy with the gold. It's the third time that I've won a medal in this sport. Now my boyfriend will understand why I didn't spend so much time with him last year. On the eight I hope I will win the gold medal again tomorrow. I want to dedicate this medal to my wedding in September."
You WU (CHN)
"We trained very hard with the national team and didn't get a good result. We thought about giving up until we got a foreign coach on board. Since getting a foreign coach, everything has changed. The second place for me is acceptable but a kind of a pity, we could have got first place if we just did a little bit better. We are quite satisfied but had expectation of a gold medal. Our coach told us to keep a good psychological conditions because we have the strength, we just need to get mentally fit."
Yulan GAO (CHN)
"We have only been rowing together a short time, we lack experience in the big events compared with the New Zealand girls. We put a lot of effort into the preparation. We will go on from here and put more effort into our training. I'm quite satisfied with our result, especially our final push."
"It wasn't expected that we'd get a medal because the Olympics is such a huge event. We're very honored to take silver. The Romanians are a very experienced crew and they've already been to two Olympics."
Yuliya BICHYK (BLR)
"It was a bad race, I am not satisfied with the result."
Louisa REEVE (GBR)
"It's a good starting point, although we had a disappointing race. Realistically we were an outside chance. When we got together twelve weeks ago we were aiming for 8th position."
Men's pair
Drew GINN (AUS)
"We just knew that if we just kept driving and we just kept pushing that we could do something. It wasn't a great row at times, but with 400 meters to go, we just needed to keep going. And you can see that there's a lot of love here now." On standing up after the race: "When you finish a race like that, when it's a real ding-dong battle, you just have to stand up and enjoy." On pressure: "It's in your mind. People remind you that it's there, but you just have to get on with it."
"The Semifinal was the hardest race because I didn't know if I could cope with the pain and then the Final. But the rhythm of the final race was perfect and made it easy to follow. We had a few hairy moments at the start of the week and haven't rowed, apart from during the races. In the Final, I was protecting my back and my right leg wasn't functioning properly, but I tried not to think about it."
Duncan FREE (AUS)
"I started rowing when I was 12. I dreamed about winning after watching Barcelona in 1992. I didn't think it would happen, but it has. Some yours you get close, some years you don't, it's a dream come true to win. Athens was Athens. This was a new book. It didn't make up for Athens, because it's a different thing entirely."
"A lot of ups and downs, emotions and thoughts during this week. Drew didn't want to talk about his back and I didn't want to ask, but I wasn't going to row with anyone else. We put in a minimum amount of work during the week and to get through the semifinal without preparation was unorthodox."
Dave CALDER (CAN)
On his comeback: "I lost sight of why I was there. It's amazing how this sport draws you back in. Just when you think you are out, you get hooked right back in again. My break from Athens allowed me to assess what I love about rowing, and that's the friendships. I have been at this game since I was 12, and now the long hard training in the winter has paid off. Athens played no part in today; our memories are here in Beijing. Who knows, another four years could make us go faster."
"This is the first Canadian medal; let the flood gates open! During the race Scott and I were very calm. For the first 1500m we rowed internally, then for the last at 500m we opened our eyes to give a good race. Great piece from start to finish. We are both very proud."
Scott FRANDSEN (CAN)
"It was a tough race and we tried to ignore the fact that Canada hadn't won a medal yet. We wanted to have our best race, to get silver we are both satisfied. It was clear the Australians were on top for most of it we too had a great race." On the future: "the plan was to finish off well here and walk away."
"We are very happy with the silver medal today; we've definitely won a silver, not lost a gold. We had nothing left so it would be stupid not to be happy with silver."
Nathan TWADDLE (NZL)
"For the first part of the race we had planned to try and go out and minimize the speed. Unlike Drew and Duncan we think we can sprint. But full credit to the other two pairs. We never thought we should give up, we just thought we should button up and carry on. We lacked sprinting ability at the end, but we're still proud."
"It's not the color we wanted, but it just goes to show how difficult Olympic competition is. It's a testament to the overall quality of Australia and Canada. We knew the Australians would go out fast, we wanted to keep in touch to minimize any damage. If we were in touch, we knew we could push them. We let them get away further that we should have."
"For the last four years we've put everything into this and really wanted a medal. We were confident and don't think we panicked. We tried to go with the others, keep calm and keep driving. We pushed very hard and are happy. We're disappointed we are not up with the other two crews we thought we were competitive with. It shows that World Championships success is difficult to transfer into Olympic success. We can learn from this - the sun will still rise tomorrow."
George BRIDGEWATER (NZL)
"It was a bloody tough row. We gave everything we could after 1000m."
"We've learned a hell of a lot off these Aussie guys over the past couple of years, and now the Canadians are coming through as well. The Australians just proved impossible to catch. It's disappointing for us, but all in all it's been a fairytale."
Felix DRAHOTTA (GER)
"Being able to compete in the final is a surprise for us already. For us it was a success, it's a good feeling. I hope we can compete in London 2012 again, we are young. Let's see how far we can go. I think after this we need two months partying to recover."
Women's double
Caroline EVERS-SWINDELL (NZL)
"Our coach told us to focus on the plan and not worry about the other boats, we knew it would be tight, it's the Olympic final. This one still hasn't sunk in yet. There were high expectations in Athens, but the medals are just as cool as each other. We met some top New Zealand crews to train against, there were really fast international crews so we knew we were going okay, but the last two weeks in Beijing have gone pretty well. We had some bad luck with injuries, but we got back in the boat."
"Goodness knows we didn't have a good start, we were behind... It?s been a tough last week; we just wanted to have a good race. We're so pleased."
Georgina EVERS-SWINDELL (NZL)
"I didn't know that we'd won, I looked at the Germans and thought 'oh, they've won.'"
"We can't believe it right now. It was not our best start, but we got steady, kept the rhythm going and knew we were in with a chance. It probably looked pretty ugly. When we crossed the line we had no idea we'd won; we saw the Germans looking happy so thought they were first. We've had to wait since our heat on Tuesday for this race but we've done that before... it's all part of rowing and part of the mental preparation. As for the future we don't know. We're just going to get our medals now."
Annekatrin THIELE (GER)
"The level of the three medalists is very close. I didn't know which place we were during the race even though I gave a glimpse at the last 100m point. I just gave my best. I think I reached my goal even though a gold medal would have been better. The race is over; we will just enjoy our silver medal and maybe do some sightseeing in Beijing."
Anna BEBINGTON (GBR)
"We had a game plan to be in the pack when the sprint started, as that's our strength. We got out well and I'm pleased with the way the race went. We were a length down with 500m to go; we gave our sprint. Two crews held us off, but we are over the moon."
"It's probably the best race we've ever had, and we got an Olympic bronze medal so we are over the moon. I had a load of supportive messages before we raced so this one was about making ourselves proud, my mum and dad will always love me."
Elise LAVERICK (GBR)
"Back in December, we were both sick; in March Anna was still sick and I was injured. We raced at Lucerne and it was a disaster. If you'd told us then... or even 15 minutes ago... that we would win an Olympic medal, we'd have been stoked. Tomorrow we'll carry the blades down for the Women's Quad and keep them happy, and then we'll party."
"With 250m left I thought we can do this, but we left just a little too much to do. It was a cracking race, a really good race. I said I was going to stop after today but who knows, I'm just not quite there. We are just going to relax for a few days and watch everyone else go through hell trying to win some medals. I'm sure they will."
Men's double
David CRAWSHAY (AUS)
"We were very disappointed after Athens but knew that we could have a chance now to redeem that. No race is a done deal."
"It's a great feeling to compete for Australia. It means a lot to us today. Personally it was great to see the Aussies who competed just before us get gold. It was a massive sense of relief to be following in their footsteps."
"I'm so shocked. We did what we wanted to do. We were ahead after 1000 meters, and after that it was a case of 'you catch me, you beat me.' During the race it's a case of don't think what are you doing here, think we should be here. Just keep going. On an injury to Brennan: he could row with a busted leg, with a stump like on Monty Python."
Scott BRENNAN (AUS)
"After Wednesday when we came out of the semi with quite a bit of control, we realized that we could have a chance. When we got to the halfway line, it was a surprise. We expected it to be tight all the way. Full credit to David, he held it together. Our coach said don't be afraid if you get out there, but be afraid if you are behind."
Stephen ROWBOTHAM (GBR)
"We talked about winning gold before the regatta, it looked like being between us and New Zealand. We knew it would be a good race and that we would be in the mix. I'd never pass up an Olympic medal; I'm so proud that the work we have put in has paid off. Those Aussies have done something special over the last six weeks. Now I'm going to have some food before getting very, very drunk. I've got my stag do in a couple of weeks, so I've got a lot of practicing to do."
"We always said we would never pass up a medal. We are delighted, especially after our semifinal performance. We had a good first 500m - sometimes in sport it is like that, another crew is just better on the day. It was disappointing that we let Estonia come through at the end; but this happens to very few people in the world."
Matthew WELLS (GBR)
"We were hanging on for the last couple of strokes, I was just thinking 'line please come' but I'm really pleased with a medal. We had a pretty bad semi so we wanted to turn it around in the first half of the race."
"We hung on in the last 250m. Everything was early, Australia kept coming back at us - there was always one more thing. I always talk about looking for our 100% race, and this was it. It's good to have GBR up there."
Tonu ENDREKSON (EST)
"That was amazing, but I'd have been disappointed if we hadn't got a medal. I slept surprisingly well last night ? the best in a long time."
Men's Four
Peter REED (GBR)
"I'm relieved and happy. The hardest thing I've gone out to do and the best finish we've ever put together. I said to TJ let's not settle for silver, let's go out and win this. Through every tough time, every argument we've ever had, this just means it's worth it. It's unbelievable, I can't describe it. Now we're up there with the Cracknell's, Pinsent's and Redgrave's."
"I'm just so excited! With 400m to go I heard Tom (James) shout 'Yeah, we're bringing them in'. I wasn't going to settle for silver and I knew the other guys weren't either."
Steve WILLIAMS (GBR)
"It was very tough, but I'm over the moon and delighted. Jurgen Grobler has been telling us 'no one can beat you.' It turned out well in the end, but it's been an epic journey. Specifically over the last six months there have been back injuries, substitutions and some real low moments. All we've been doing is keeping our confidence high. It's all too much to take in right now. This week's been really tough. I can't explain it; there are no words for it."
"With 200m to go we had a sniff of it; our 10 strokes to the end must have been very ugly... it was beyond skills. Primeval! All credit to Australia who is a high quality crew."
Tom JAMES (GBR)
"I can't believe it! I can't describe it! This is an unknown for me. It's also a relief after the middle of that race when they were all pushing out from us. It's amazing to come out on top. It went to plan in that we stuck to our guns, but one length down at 1000m was definitely not part of the plan. But in the end we managed to get our nose in front. We've not had good preparations, with ups and downs; this is only our fifth race as a crew. But it has made us a united crew and single minded. The history of the British Four has obviously put pressure on us and it's a really tough field. We can't really hear the calls because of the noise of the crowd, but we kept it simple and in the last 250m just wound and wound and wound. Yesterday Juergen (Grobler) said 'There is no magic speech. The magic is from the last four years.'"
Andy HODGE (GBR)
"We all know how you guys like a close finish. Relative to the semifinal, it was right on par. I don't know where that last 250 came from. We knew we had another gear, but not that. I've never been in so much pain in my life; you got 100% of Hodge today."
Cameron McKENZIE-McHARG (AUS)
"It is an incredible feeling, I can't believe we are Olympic silver medalists."
James MARBURG (AUS)
"Great Britain is an amazing team, but we wanted to put it out there and make it a challenge. I just don't think I could ask for better guys in our boat, with more heart or determination."
Francis HEGERTY (AUS)
"I just couldn't think of three other guys I'd rather go through this experience with."
Benjamin RONDEAU (FRA)
"It was a huge race... the result of eight years of hard work. Our big inspiration since 2000 has been the Men's Pair of Jean-Christophe Rolland and Michel Andrieux, who won the gold medal in Sydney. We didn't have any results at the Rowing World Cup this year and it's great to get bronze here. We had no race plan... we just went flat out from beginning to end, and we knew we could do something in the last 500m. This was for our families, who lose out on so much with our training camps and work, and especially for my fiance whom I will marry in October. I don't know if I'll go on in the four, it's a lot of work... I'd quite like to row in an eight."
"Even if we are third, it's an incredible emotion. My heart is beating hard. After three years of hard work, it's wonderful to win a medal. I want to say thanks to my friends, my parents who have supported us, but, mostly, my teammates. I think that, if there is a good coalition between us, it is a big contribution towards winning."
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|
row2k's Olympics coverage is brought to you by:
row2k's Olympics coverage is brought to you by: