USA finalises Olympic crews

Then internally those wanting to represent their country in small boats raced to win trials while bigger boats were selected from the national team camps. Some of the athletes have never raced at an international event; some are in their first year on the national team.

But included in the mix of 45 athletes are the experienced Bryan Volpenhein and Paul Teti. Volpenhein has been to the last two Olympics in the men’s eight and was the stroke of the winning 2004 eight. Volpenhein is back in the eight sitting in seven seat. Teti is also off to his third Olympic Games. He rowed at Sydney and Athens in the lightweight men’s four. After Athens Teti stepped away from the national team only coming back this year to make it into the men’s four.

Sitting in the middle of the women’s eight is Anna Cummins who won silver at Athens. This time she is racing in both the eight and pair and is the sole athlete on the squad to be doubling up.

Winning the men’s double trials gave Elliot Hovey and Wes Peirmarini the Olympic berth. Hovey and Peirmarini have never raced internationally but supplemented their Olympic build-up by racing at the Henley Royal Regatta last week.

The men’s quad goes to the Olympics with high expectations after finishing first at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. This win broke the three-year winning domination held by Poland and puts the quad in good Olympic medal contention.

Hot contender for Olympic gold, the women’s eight go to Beijing as two-time World Champions. The crew is also the most stable in the US roster. Only two changes have been made to the boat that finished first last year at the World Rowing Championships.

The men’s eight has not raced internationally this season but four of the rowers, plus coxswain Marcus McElhenney, qualified the boat for the Olympics at last year’s World Rowing Championships by finishing fourth.

To view the complete U.S.A. Olympic Team roster, click here.