The world champions in the women's and men's eights--Romania and Great Britain--capped their Olympics with gold on the last day of the Olympic Regatta.

Paris podium in M8: NED (silver), GBR (gold), USA (bronze)

Quotes below from the medalists today--and the full results from today's racing can be found here

"Going Home with Maximum Pride" - ROU W8

The Romanians took the lead right away, and if anything, extended their lead in the last 500 meters.

"It was a good race. We are glad that we won. All the people expected us to win so we are glad that we did," said Amalia Beres, who picked up her first medal in the W8 final after taking fourth by less than half a second in the W4- final on Thursday.

ROU W8

All of the women in the Romanian eight, apart from the coxswain, doubled up at this regatta, with Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar winning silver in the double while Ioana Vrinceanu and Roxana Anghel earned silver in the pair. Radis said the win in the eight made them "extremely happy."

"It is a great result for all of us," Radis said. "The only gold for the women's team and we go home with maximum pride."

"Our coxswain told us in the last 500m the gold was ours," said Maria Lehaci, "but I didn't believe it. I knew that we had to go for the finish line and here we are. We are Olympic champions."

The Canadian women's eight came through the reps for the second Olympics in a row to make the podium. While Canada could not catch the Romanians to defend their Tokyo gold, they once again put their best race together on the final day.

Three of the rowers in the crew--Avalon Wasteneys, Sydney Payne, and Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski--were in the Tokyo eight, along with coxswain Kristen Kit.

CAN W8

"It's the 'Canadian special' to build through the regatta," said Wasteneys.

"It is never our tactic," added Payne, "but somehow..."

"Somehow we do it!" said Wasteneys, laughing.

Kristina Walker said the piece remained internal throughout.

"We were so focused on our own race plan. Of course Kit [our coxswain] called the placements and the moves but I think everyone was so focused and dialed in on what we needed to do," said Walker. "We went into this race focusing on our own individual roles and that was our big execution, doing that. It came out that we came in second and got the silver."

"Especially in this last six months, we've been working really hard in this crew," added Payne. "We've been together for probably the longest I've ever been in a crew, and with that we have a lot of faith in the training that we put together. We knew that we could back ourselves with the work that we've done through the winter, through the spring. We've seen it and training over and over again.

"Unfortunately, when we got here we lost it a bit and it took a bit through the week to shake off the nerves and get back to the fluid motion that we were used to. As we got towards the final, it got closer and closer to what we were used to. Today, we were able to go out there and put down the race that we knew we are capable of, with the competence and the training that we usually have."

The GB women took third, their second medal in eight years in the event.

GBR W8

"We're over the moon," said Heidi Long. "We came in wanting gold but to come away with a piece of the Eiffel Tower is very special."

(ed Note: each medal includes a hexagonal piece of the Eiffel Tower.)

"We attacked the whole way down," said Rowan McKeller. "I didn't ever feel complacent with the bronze. We were going for the silver the whole way down and we never left off the gas. If we had, we wouldn't have gotten the bronze. I feel proud of us for absolutely going right until last stroke."

"Sprint to the death, straight from the buzzer" - GBR M8

The British men's eight turned on the jets when it counted and came away with another win. They are unbeaten in medal races this year and own the last two World titles.

GBR M8

"We knew that the race was going to be really tight," said the coxswain, Harry Brightmore, "and a big part of our race plan was making sure that we were on it until the very last stroke, which we didn't quite get right earlier in the season, when the Americans were really close to us.

"The plan was: first minute as hard as you can, then next minute as hard as you can," Brightmore added. "There was wasn't anything clever about what we were doing. If you look at all of the A finals that have gone through at this regatta, every crew that has won has pretty much taken it by the scruff of the neck. We lined up on that start line knowing that we were going to sprint to the death, straight from the buzzer."

"We actually got beaten by the Americans in a preliminary race at the last regatta," Charles Elwes noted, saying, "I think honestly before that race we rested on our laurels a little bit, we were a little bit complacent. Then we got beaten by half a length in that preliminary race and that really set a fire underneath us for the rest of the season. I don't think we would have had what we had out there unless we had suffered a loss."

The Dutch came through for second place, putting their men's eight on the medal table along with the strong sculling boats and women's crews here from the Netherlands.

NED M8

"We put down one of our best races," said Gert-jan Van Doorn, "and winning silver is something to be really proud of in a race where nobody is going to give you an inch."

"When we to row towards the start, everyone was like, okay, I'm going to do this with my mates," Jan Van Der Bij said, "and there was a different kind of energy we had, from the heat or the repechage. It was something different. Before the start, the coxswain also said like, okay, don't blow it. Keep it relaxed and it was a great start. It was a great first thousand and everyone was like, okay, we can do this."

The USA took the bronze medal, in what seven seat Evan Olson called a "gritty race" in speaking to row2k afterwards (read our interview with the crew here).

USA M8

"The guys in this boat are really gritty, and we went out there and we had a gritty race," said Olson. "I think we can be proud of what we accomplished."

"We knew we had to come out and put our foot down early," said stroke man Pieter Quinton. "Credit to the other crews, they really pushed the pace in the first 1000 and it was a little too much for us, but I think we responded well."

You can read the full row2k interview with the US Men's Eight here.