Completing the Semi-finals - Athens Olympics

Lightweight Women's Double Sculls – three to advance

Semi-final 1

World Champions, Germany's Claudia Blasberg and Daniela Reimer, took off at the start just ahead of the United States. The lower rating Germans still had the lead going through the half way point but Olympic Champions Constanta Burcica and Angela Alupei of Romania were starting to put the pressure on. They had already pushed past the Americans and were going after the leaders.

This event was first raced at the 1996 Olympics and Burcica won there as well as Sydney 2000. Is the Romanian heading for a hat trick? Alupei joined Burcica to win at Sydney and after taking time off from rowing Alupei decided to do a 2004 comeback. The comeback looks to be successful.

Going through the 1100 Burcica and Alupei had found the lead with the Netherlands sprinting their way through to take second. The Germans then realised the pressure they were under and took their rating up. Romania, in the lead, did just enough to retain that position with Kirsten van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands holding on to second. A fast finish by Blasberg and Reimer gave Germany the final qualifying spot over the United States. Romania, the Netherlands and Germany advance to the 2004 Athens Olympic final.

Blasberg at the finish said, "I wasn't happy with the final sprint. We hope that we can recover (physically) over the next two days for the final. Our goal is still gold."

Amber Halliday and Sally Newmarch from Australia
© Dominik Keller

 

Semi-final 2

When you line up against Australia's Amber Halliday and Sally Newmarch you are lining up against the crew that set a world best time in the heats on Sunday. In the slight tail wind conditions today they were definitely the crew to keep an eye on. But it was the gutsy Chinese crew of Qian Li and Dongxiang Xu that took the fastest start and the early lead. This caught Poland's Magdalena Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska off guard who usually claim the fast-start tactic for themselves.

Kemnitz and Mokronowska, in fourth, moved into a piece that propelled them ahead of Canada's Mara Jones and Fiona Milne, ahead of Li and Xu and up on Newmarch and Halliday who had now found the lead. The Poles continued to power on using a strong second half of their stroke to help them out. Newmarch and Halliday continued to hang on in the lead.

An extremely tight four boat finish had Australia in first, Poland retaining second and China holding off Canada to take the final qualifying spot.

Canada's stroke Milne was philosophical after the finish, "I'm not disappointed in us, but I am disappointed in not reaching the final. There are at least eight boats that could be on the podium. This is the best level in the world and it was extremely hard to get into the final."

Jones added, "We put everything we had into that race. We couldn't do more."

Lightweight Men's Double Sculls – three to advance

Semi-final 1

Every vein in their body stood out. Every muscle was taut. The defending Olympic Champions, Poland, have not raced all season as lightweights. Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz know that making an average crew weight of 70 kilos could be detrimental to their health. So their potential form at Athens was reasonably unknown. Today they put any speculation to rest by leading from start to finish and executing a race plan that showed no weaknesses.

Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark are used to holding an early lead, but despite coming out of the start rating 45 strokes per minute, they could not match the power of the Poles. Still, Rasmussen and Quist lodged themselves into second and kept a concerted eye on Greek favourites Vasileios Polymeros and Nikolaos Skiathitis.

Poland retained a steady 35 strokes per minute through the body of the race with Denmark and Greece fighting it out for second at a higher 37 – 38 strokes per minute. Coming into the final 500 metres Greece had found second. At the line Poland, Greece and Denmark qualify from first, second and third respectively.

Ura and Takeda of the Japanese lightweight double sculls
© Dominik Keller

Semi-final 2

France's Frederic Dufour and Pascal Touron are on a roll. The just missed out on a medal at last year's World Championships but will now take one of the middle lanes in the final of the Athens Olympic Games. They did this by winning the second semi-final over a field packed with talent. Here is how they did it:

Rating a high 44 strokes per minute at the start Dufour and Touron got their nose into the lead. Behind them four boats formed almost a straight line across the course. Hungary's Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga, Japan's Kazushige Ura and Diasaku Takeda, Spain's Ruben Alvarez and Juan Zunzunegui and Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey of Ireland were all within whispering distance of qualifying.

With the high rating French remaining in the lead, Hungary had pulled their socks back up from slipping out of qualifying contention and sprinting back into second as the remaining 500 metres came into view. By now Spain had dropped off the pace, leaving three boats vying for two spots. Hungary, Japan and Ireland all had a chance. The luck of the Irish and last year's bronze medalists was not shining. France, Hungary and Japan move on to the final.

Meanwhile, the three-time World Champions and World Best time record holders Italy, who had been unbeatable from 2001 to 2003, today sat off the pace for the whole race.

Lightweight Men's Four – top three to advance

Semi-final 1

It was no surprise when the Italians shot out of the start, in their customary high rating style, at a clipping 46 strokes per minute. Australia followed closely behind at 42 as Canada held on. These top three contenders then started to open up a gap on the rest of the field.

By the half way point Italy, Australia and Canada still remained at the head of the field with Austria making a valiant attempt to fit in. At the line Italy was still in front. Sydney silver medalists, Australia, had held on to second and Canada had qualified for the Athens Olympics final by finishing fourth.

Two seat for Canada, Jonathan Mandick said after the race that the event had begun with at least nine crews able to win a medal, "The final's going to be nuts, the fastest thing you've ever imagined."

Simon Burgess of the Australian lightweight four
© Dominik Keller

 

Semi-final 2

World Champions Denmark knew that they had to make some changes after suffering through some mediocre results this season. The first thing was to get a new boat. The second thing was to go faster. This is exactly what they did when the left the start at 44 strokes per minute, and got out to the lead position. By the 1000 metre mark the Danes, still rating 41 strokes per minute, had a solid boat length lead over the rest of the field.

Behind them a fight for the final two spots was being waged between three boats – Russia, Ireland and the Netherlands. Russia had a slight advantage over the more controlled Dutch with Ireland playing around with their boat speed through the middle of the race.

The final sprint had the Danes still in front and still rating 40. The Netherlands had charged into second and the Irish grabbed the final qualifying spot by holding off the Russians.

Men's Quadruple Sculls – three to advance

Semi-final 1

This event has been in Germany's radar for years. The old guard of Andre Willms, Stephan Volkert and Marco Geisler finished third at Sydney and joined by Robert Sens in stroke they continue to dominate German sculling. However, this wealth of experience was not having it all their own way. Poland and Ukraine were staying very much in touch with the leading Germans.

Ukraine retain two members from the Sydney sixth placed crew and were now sitting behind Poland in third. At the line Poland had sprinted past Germany to take first with Ukraine finishing third.

After the finish Germany's Sens said, "We had a super start and first 1000 metres. The race wasn't a problem for us. Our main opponents were Poland."
Two seat, Volkert gave some racing insight, "I'm not a long racer. I'm there for the first 1000 to bring boat forward."

The Czech quad won their semifinal in Athens
© Dominik Keller

Semi-final 2

The bow of each boat sits in a "boot" at the start. As the light turns green and the starter's flag comes down, the boot drops away releasing boats at a rate of up to 46 strokes per minute. In the last semi-final for the 2004 Olympic Regatta the Czech Republic took the early lead settling into a solid 39 strokes per minute. Russia, from one lane over, grabbed hold of the momentum and held on to the Czech's.

Together these top two qualifiers from the heats moved away to an open water lead over the rest of the field, playing the lead-swapping game down the 2000 metre course. This left three boats to fight it out for the final spot. Belarus, Estonia and the United States were all well within range of making an Olympic final as they charged through the middle of the race.

Estonia and Belarus then managed to drop the United States, but there was still one too many boats than there was qualifying spots. Who would give?

Despite an awesome sprint it was Estonia that gave.

Three seat for Estonia Andrei Silin commented after the finish that their rigging had prevented them from bringing the stroke rate up, "We were disappointed and upset not to get into the final especially when it was by so little. This is one of the races that we will regret for a long time. Now the only thing we have to do is win the B-final."