Today is the only day in the "new" schedule that doesn't have either heats or finals, which still throws a lot of folks off; for photographers in particular, that means that there is really only one day to go take photos you can't take during the heats, when you are almost always at the start getting close-ups of everyone, or during the finals, when you are taking photos of A finals coming to the line, people celebrating, and--of course--the medal ceremonies.
As a result I got to follow some races from the photographer truck, and it was good times; the volume and influence of the capacity crowd really can't be understated, wow; save for perhaps a few seconds of a couple finals in Sydney, I have never heard anything like it in the sport of rowing.
One of the races I chased was the women's double, so I got to watch that start twice; a malfunction in the starting system caused the race to be called back for a restart. When they could not fix the system immediately, they went to an old-fashioned start, complete with red flag and absent the starting gates that usually hold the bows.
First, however, the starter announced that he would run a test start, which resulted in a now-continuous and bit more piercing tone--talk about some nerve-rattling at the line, yeesh. To add to all this, the "test" aspect of the test start was lost in translation for at least one crew, and they took off yet again. In the end it went off fine, and no one seemed to sweat it too much; it seemed almost more normal than the 'normal' system.
It sure didn't fluster the US women's double, who rowed an awesome race down the track, almost reeling in the leaders in the final strokes. Then a few races later, Gevvie Stone did the same thing, albeit without the broken start system. To see US scullers race from behind was a very cheering sight--which is not to say that watching the US light women's double lead for the entire race was other than cheering. That was a blast, and nice to be out of the nail-biting zone for a lot of American race fans.
Before the doubles races, the E-F semis for the men's single were held, including rowing's Eddie the Eagle for 2012, the sculler from Niger. The finish line announcer counted down the final buoys for him as he came home in his semi, prompting a massive roar as he crossed the line. He's been quoted as saying, "I have no technique, only strength" and you could see that here: no question that this guy is putting in the full pull, and anyone who has ever gutted out a 2k knows there is no lack of toughness here, though he did have a few rough strokes off the line that NBC featured. Tough to watch of course--and much has been made about whether or not he "belongs" at the Olympics--but seeing him race does illustrate just how hard this sport really is, which is (almost) easy to forget when watching good, Olympic level rowing.
The light men's double was definitely a heartbreaker for Canada: the CAN double was in the lead for a long time, only to see the field row them down and take both of the top two spots away: first, Greece went by on the far side, then Hungary reeled them in, and--though it wasn't to move on-- Australia walked past, too, right at the close.
In the other events on the day:
Men's Single - Quarters
Mahe Drysdale (NZL) dominated his quarterfinal. Today he looked to be rowing much more carefully, and well within himself…which is a bit scary considering how hard Tim Maeyens (BEL) looked to be working just to stay on his stern. If Mahe can go that fast in his careful, comfortable mode, then watch out. Next up, Alan Campbell (GBR) rowed his quarterfinal with some impressive purpose: he looked hellbent to take another win here in front of the crowd, and attacked the whole way.
In USA sculler Ken Jurkowski's race, there was nothing dramatic: Lasse Karonen (SWE) was "just" pushing a pretty solid pace on the front and only ARG and CHN had the legs to go with him. Jurkowski did not seem able to summon a move that could bring him back up into contention; he came home in 5th, behind IND, and heads to the C/D semis.
The fourth of these quarterfinals was the race to watch, especially at the close, when Stephansen of DEN nearly raced through two-time defending Olympic Champ Tufte (NOR) for the third spot. Ondrej Synek (CZE) looked pretty pleased to take a win over Tufte and such a hard charging field--good preparation for the pace of the semis, for sure.
Women's Single - Quarters
Aussie single sculler Kim Crow is making her 'double in the double' plan look pretty easy thus far: she has yet to lose a race and in her quarterfinal she looked, if anything, more dominant than she did in the double. Harder races ahead, to be sure, but so far she will be in good lanes all the way, with plenty of boat speed.
The final race in this quartet of quarters did serve up one surprise: the Danish sculler Erichsen got an early lead over Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, and it turned out to be plenty long-lived: Erichsen won it wire-to-wire over the great champion, who later admitted being "a little bit surprised" by the Dane. Karsten is, to be fair, working her way through the week with a rib injury to nurse, and there was no need to push things with two rounds yet to go, but this result does set up some interesting storylines as the singles head into the semis.
Men's Double - Semis
In the men's double, the Argentinians put on a Cinderella crew performance, coming so much out of nowhere that broadcasters and scratchers were running around trying to figure out who the heck they are. I was on not much better footing, and couldn't really help; wow.
Light Men's Four - Semis
The US light men's four looked to jam their bow up into qualifying position on several occasions in their race, which was a classic lightweight men's semi: all six boats within a length for most of the race, and the crew that was sitting in sixth sprinting through to advance. The other semi was just as good, and I noticed the South Africans stuck with the reach straws we saw on Thursday even for the racing. They are through to the final, so seems to have worked. The light men's four almost single-handedly underscores the value of including lightweights in the Olympics; it is some of the best racing in the regatta.
The day started with a bit of British rain, and the rain gear came out in full force; it was obvious the British know how to deal with a little water. See the Scene gallery for lots of rain gear: kids splashing in puddles, umbrellas, ponchos, and even some winter weather gear.
I took a big swat at the photo list for The List today, and it resulted in some entertaining adventures; as i scrambled down a hill to get to the waterside, I threw down a bunch of my gear, and bits and pieces of equipment slid right into the water. No big deal - boots off, socks off, roll 'em up, and wade in - everything was recovered. (A couple hours later, I was in hard drive recovery mode as well, hence the photos and report showing up about six hours late; my apologies, but I'll take a wade in the lake over a six-hour hard drive crisis any day.)
It's on to the medals tomorrow--I don't know if I'll ever get used to medals on Wednesday morning, and the Men's Eight at that--but rumor has it that the new schedule may not be long for the world. Of course, it takes an act of (FISA) Congress to change, so we'll wait and see. Tremendous luck to all the medal hunters tomorrow!
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