The Romanian women’s eight continued their Olympic dominance, winning the gold on the last day of racing here at the Paris Games in the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. Doubling up in the pairs and double sculls, the Romanian women won silver medals in both events earlier in the week while the other half of the eight finished fourth in the fours. Only three nations, excluding Romania, won more Olympic rowing medals than the Romanian women’s eight: The Netherlands (eight, including four gold), Great Britain (eight, including three gold), and New Zealand (four, one gold). Romania also won gold the men’s double and silver in the lightweight women’s double, for five medals, total.
North American sweep rowers continued a successful Games as Canada won silver in the women’s eight and the U.S. men’s eight won bronze.
“It’s been a childhood dream of mine growing up, seeing Olympic paraphernalia from Seoul and Barcelona,” said Nick Rusher, who parents both rowed in the Olympics. “Just seeing my parents in the stands, cheering me on, when I got my medal, it’s the proudest moment of my life.”
The U.S. men had a quick start, but the Netherlands and Great Britain got their bow balls ahead after a minute. The U.S. was third after 500 meters, and a second and a half behind the leaders across the 1,000 meter mark. Great Britain took over for good in the third 500 as the U.S. men rowed a bit shorter than they needed to in order to catch them or the Dutch, who won silver. Germany, Australia, and Romania finished more than a length back.
The women’s eights final was all Romania as the reigning World and European champions won by open water. Canada, with half the boat back from the Tokyo Olympic gold medal crew, rowed calmly and in second place.
“I saw an opportunity, and anything can happen in an Olympic final. We knew that going into the race and we seized that opportunity,” said Canadian coxswain Kristen Kit. “Hats off to them (Romania) because they are so dominant, but you know we are coming next quad.”
The U.S. women spent most of the race in fourth place before falling to fifth behind Australia at the line. Great Britain won the bronze.
Jacob Plihal raced in the C final after winnng the C/D semi, where he ended up after finishing fourth in the fastest quarterfinal, with two eventual A finalists. The Craftsbury Green Racing Project sculler stretched a slight early lead to a full length in third 500 and finished in a time of 6:41, the fastest ever by a U.S. men’s single at the Olympics.
World Champion Oliver Zeidler added Olympic gold to his growing collection of accolades, leading start to finish, in a time of 6:37. He lowered the Olympic record by five seconds to 6:35 in the A/B semifinal.
“The crowd was there and I was just flying over the water,” said Zeidler, who nearly quit sculling after the disappointment of missing the A final in Tokyo. “It was such a cool race. I put everything together over the last three years with my team, and now I have a gold medal which we have worked for since the very beginning.”
U.S. single sculler Kara Kohler finished fifth in the women’s single final, in which Karolien Florijn took a length in the first minute and only defending Olympic rowing champion Emma Twigg, racing in her fifth Games, could go with her. They were the only two scullers to break five meters per second off of the start and Florijn seemed to have the race won with a length lead at halfway. But Twigg, 37, with a young son watching in the stands, made a huge charge in the third 500 and closed to within a second.
“Just super proud that I could go out there and execute when it counted,” said Twigg afterwards. “To have the race of my life and be there with Karolien, who I’ve been chasing for the last three years, was equally as special and sharing it with her as well was pretty cool. We’ve formed an awesome friendship over the last three years, so, it’s really cool.”
Florijn, the daughter of a two-time Olympic rowing champion and a member of the Dutch rowing machine that dominated these Games, pulled away for the win in the end.
“I just executed my plan. I have a great team around me and I’m really thankful.”
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