When a day of racing ends with kids and neighbors you have known for years winning gold and silver medals, it is hard to keep everything that happened in sight and perspective, but I think we're up to it.
The US women's eight won gold today with what coxswain Mary Whipple called "Plan A," which was apparently pretty much to run the show from the front. They did so, with style and some energy to spare; Whipple said she had to throttle the crew back in the early going, and it worked; when they got to around the 700 to go mark, when I instinctively looked for any cracks in the armor that might play out down the track, I saw none, and immediately configured my cameras and lenses for a US win.
Canada kept coming, as anyone who has watched them this year would expect; coxswain Lesley Thompson said she kept the crew focused on going for the lead, and it looked like this earned them the silver. It doesn't always work - four years ago, the crew got surprised and nipped for bronze by a rocket Dutch sprint – but this time it sure did. The Dutch kept chase, but did not make a serious impression at any point – the three crews pulled away from everyone else, but no changes in places in the top three came to pass. In the big picture, the Canadians really upped the game of everyone in the women's eight this summer, bringing out the best in everyone.
So the US women seven-peat as world champs and repeat as Olympic champs; it has been a while since rowing has seen anything quite like a streak of this nature. They threw in the coxswain, then when they got back they threw in the coach; well done.
Oh yeah - members of the US W4x showed up to cheer on the women's eight with big red white and blue hats and Uncle Sam beards – well played!!
Just 20 minutes before the US repeated still again, South Africa won its first ever rowing gold with a massive sprint in the light men's four – still with the straws I mentioned a few days ago on the boat! They rowed down the Danes and the Brits – pretty darn impressive. The Danish "crown prince" came down to give out the medals to the lightweights;
And NZ repeated in the men's double, which you wouldn't think is a huge surprise – world champions repeat, got it, good job. Then the guys get up on the dock, and you see their size compared to the other doubles – they look tiny, there is no other word for it. They're fast, though!
The Italian stroke laid down in the boat with his feet up while his bowman rowed him to the mix zone dock – don't forget to tip the gondolier!
In the B final, the USA light men's four chased France all the way down the course to the finish line, but could not burst through, placing eighth overall. It was a long summer for the light men, with qualifier racing in both events, but it seems like there is a bit of traction in the ranks; time will tell, fingers crossed.
Semis
In the men's four, the US won the second semi with a really nice, really professional row, and avoided the brawl for bragging rights between the Australians and British fours in the first semi. The Aussies looked like they were going to run with it to the line, but the Brits dug in, went through, and won it. There is certainly some advantage to winning your semi (although you wonder if it really rattles an outfit like this AUS four), but in this case it looked like the GB crew did it for their own benefit, to prove as much to themselves as to everyone racing and watching that they are on track again. When they crossed the line, they used a tactic from their HRR playbook and kept rowing without stopping right around the bend to the warmup area.
The US light women's double made a really exciting bid for qualifying spot crossing 500 to go, but just when it looked like the Germans were done, they wound it up, impressively so, and blasted away. It looked like the US crew had a good row, and gave it everything, so hopefully there is some consolation in that.
Gevvie Stone gave it a good go today, but later admitted she really had troubles in the bounce out in lane 2, especially in the first several strokes of the race. "The conditions were bad, but I could have handled them better," she said after the race. "That is the hard part.
“I wanted to go out there and have the race of my life and make the top three,” she said. “It’s a really fast field and I hoped to go out and catch (Emma Twigg from New Zealand.) She’s fast and I didn’t handle the conditions as well as I could have and I went out there and I did fight and I did think I could have rowed possibly more effectively.
“But I put my heart out there and I want to go out there in the B final and have the race of my life.”
The wind is really tricky – one photograph I will post of the flags above the main grandstand would seem to indicate simultaneous head, cross and tail winds, all within about 75 meters, oof. Despite the erratic flags, most people agree that what we have is a strong crosshead from lane six; one sculler was overheard mentioning that the sculler in lane 6 was just sitting easy waiting for the "raising start system" call, while those in one and two were tapping, tapping, tapping, tapping. The folks in the "standing room area" on the lane 1 side say that they are getting creamed by the cross-head over there – and coaches and managers meetings are said to be dominated for pleas for some remedy for the problem, in particular reseeding the lanes from six to one. So far the regatta folks have resisted, apparently in part due to a tautological argument that to change the lanes would reveal that it is necessary to change the lanes.
There is a bit of a buzz about the US men's eight having a "flukey" row by merit of the fact that they failed to make the medals; I dunno, a crew that didn't even qualify last year, qualifies a few weeks ago, then comes within 2/10 of a second of the medals against the most dominant German crew in decades, a Canadian crew that has experience and tons of momentum (and has had only one bad race in over two years, in the heat a few days ago), and a powerfully hyped British crew racing on their home waters. Let's just say it, fourth place in any rowing event sucks in many ways - but I just don't see how this was a disastrous or even really a bad result for this US men's eight.
A couple stories that bubbled up since yesterday:
Finally, I am pretty sure I photographed everyone on The List – it's up to Megan now!
-There were four sets of twins in the one light men's semi yesterday!
-One US collegiate coach got a heap of emails after some athletes and friends heard the coach absolutely loud and clear cheering on their classmate on the NBC live feed. Think about it – it's early August, maybe you went out last night and hit it pretty hard, and just decided not to go to bed, but instead keep partying a little while watching the races – and you hear your coach yelling!!
-Brit fans are kicking out the jams – folks getting off of buses and trains from all over the place before 7am are fully tricked out with face paint, temporary tats, funky gear, you name it. You gotta get up early in the morning to outfan a Brit fan!
-Right in the middle of the racing program (or programme to the locals), the Japanese W1x started barreling up lane 7 toward the start, forgetting that the race day traffic pattern is very different from practice patterns. Eek!
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