Day Four Repechages - Athens Olympics

Women's Pair – two to advance to the final

Repechage 1

Juliette HAIGH and Nicky COLES giving an interview after their semifinal
© FISA

 

The World Champions Great Britain did not have such a good race in the heats and returning for today's repechage they wanted to dominate. Getting out to an early lead Katherine Grainger and Cath Bishop took clear water over the New Zealand duo of Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh in second.

The procession began. Grainger and Bishop sat comfortably in the lead with Haigh and Coles under no pressure from Bulgaria who was sitting back in third. Was the race decided with only 1000 metres rowed? Grainger and Bishop looked very comfortable in first making 35 strokes per minute look easy with Haigh and Coles at ease on 36.

Coming into the final sprint nothing changed. The margins created earlier on were too large to bridge but the New Zealanders were not taking any chances. Taking their rating to 39 they charged for the line closing the gap on Great Britain now sitting on 32 strokes per minute. Bishop and Grainger remained in front and Great Britain and New Zealand move on to the final.

Bishop said after the finish, "We are glad to be racing after two days break. For us it was important to dominate this repechage."

Repechage 2

Buffy Williams comes to her second Olympics with a bronze medal already around her neck and despite not being able to do any international racing this season because of injury, she looked very much back on form. With partner Darcy Marquardt the Canadians pushed out to an early lead over Germany's Sandra Goldbach and Maren Derlien.

Derlien and Goldbach were determined to keep Williams and Marquardt honest and as these two boats moved away from the rest of the field, qualifying spots looked set.

The order remained the same at the line as Canada and Germany move on to the final.

After the finish Marquardt said that they had stuck to their race plan, "It was important for us to stay together. Every day the conditions are different. It is a game of adapting."

Williams added, "I was just focusing on Darcy's voice because Darcy was giving the commands. To be in the final is a dream. We have accomplished our goal."

Women's Double – two to advance to the final

Repechage 1

Camilia Mihalcea of Romania won last year's World Championships as a lightweight but showed today that moving into a different weight class made no difference. Together with stroke Simona Strimbeschi they took off at a fast pace to take a solid early lead.

Mihalcea and Strimbeschi retained this lead with Great Britain's Elisa Laverick and Sarah Winckless firmly holding on to second. The order remained the same as crews headed for the line. But Great Britain wanted first and their superior sprint put them ahead of the Romanians. Both crews advance to the final.

Winckless said after the finish that they were taking one race at a time, "Now we can start thinking about the final. It is my first ever final at an Olympic Games."

Repechage 2

Three crews wanted the two remaining positions. Bulgaria's Anet Buschmann and Miglena Markova decided to do it by leading. They took the front position over Nataliya Guba and Svetlana Maziy of Ukraine as the top two boats tussled at the front of the field. Guba and Maziy tried to overtake the Bulgarians but at the line were happy to qualify from second.

After the race Markova said that they had had to come back from a bad start, "We are very happy to have won this race. We have been training for this race for two years."

Women's Quad – four to advance to the final

In just over six minutes' time two crews would not be happy. In just over six minutes' time five boats would hit the line with barely inches separating them. This is how the race unfolded: Russia got off to a fine start over World Champions Australia with Ukraine and the United States hanging right in there. As the United States and Ukraine exchanged positions through the middle of the race Australia tried to catch up to Russia.

The start of the repechage of the women's quad in Athens
© Dominik KellerThe final sprint had five boats charging for the line. Russia had enough of a lead to finish first, Ukraine and Australia finished in a photo finish and the United States had held off Denmark to get the final qualifying spot.

Women's Eight – four to advance to the final

Stroke by stroke Romania used their mixture of tremendous experience and youth to take the lead at a stroke rate of 37. By the first 500 metre mark Romania's name was lighting up the top spot on the Schinias scoreboard.

The defending Olympic Champions, Romania have retained Doina Ignat, Elisabeta Lipa, Georgeta Andrunache, Viorica Susanu and cox Elena Georgescu from the gold medal eight. Today they showed that they were serious medal contenders by keeping ahead of the German World Champions. China and Australia meanwhile were fighting it out for third and fourth spot. At the line Romania finished first with Germany, Australia and China all qualifying.

Sydney bronze medalists Canada did not have enough speed and drop out of the final.

Stroke for Canada Sabrina Kolker said at the end of the race, "We are very disappointed not to be in the final but I am proud to be with the team and proud to be at the Olympic Games. I will give it another try in 2008."

Men's Eight – two to advance to the final

Repechage 1

Italy have been improving with every race since they came together at last year's World Championships and today they took off at their customary fast pace of a cracking 42 strokes per minute. But the Netherlands were sticking with the Italians and had decided not to let them go. With half the race gone the Dutch had accelerated to the lead putting the Italians on the defense.

But the big surprise was yet to happen. Sitting in the outside lane France were carefully executing their own race plan. At the line it had worked. France had overtaken Italy in the final strokes of the race to get the second qualifying spot behind the Netherlands. 
 

The Canadian eight won their repechage in Athens
© Dominik Keller

Repechage 2

 

Before the start of these Olympic Games Canada had not lost a race in two years. After the United States removed that status in the heats on Sunday the Canadians must have been rattled. Canada, however, came back today to take the early lead over Germany by rating an aggressive 46 strokes per minute at the start.

But Germany was not going to be intimidated. Holding on to Canada for dear life the two boats moved out ahead of the rest of the field. Canada kept the pressure on and retained the lead while Germany remained staunchly in second. Then from the outside lane Great Britain decided to give it all they had. Unlucky for Britain, the defending Olympic Champions, ran out of race. Canada and Germany move on to the final.