Delight and Despair ? Olympic Qualification Regatta

By Melissa Bray

As the day closed in Lucerne, Switzerland, twenty-nine crews became qualifiers for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. As the day finished forty-one crews left the Rotsee regatta course devastated, their Olympic hopes gone for 2004. 

The Rotsee, one of the most reliable regatta courses in the world in terms of weather, turned on a fabulous rowing day. It was not too hot, the water was almost glass and not a breath of wind disturbed the course.

Emotions were definitely at a higher level than seen even for World Championship finals. This is a ruthless regatta and something many athletes swear they will never repeat. Racing was definitely not over until the final buzzer and more than one crew wrote their fate in the last 40 metres of the race.

Women’s Eight

Opening the afternoon of racing, three boats lined up and two had a chance of qualifying. Two weeks ago a small revolution happened in the Netherlands. What started off as a quad had suddenly grown into an eight and today the orange colours showed that the right decision had been made.

All three boats got off to a fast start and remained overlapping going through the first 500-metre mark. As the boats came into sight of the boat park, just past the 500-metre mark, the Netherlands were leading over China in second and Belarus, still very much in contact, in third. But the Dutch seemed to be getting better as the race progressed gaining a 2 ½ second lead over China who were still sitting in second. Belarus was meanwhile holding on for dear life and as the final sprint came into view China and Belarus increased their rating to 42.

The superior power of the Chinese won out in the end over Belarus. They followed the low rating Dutch across the finish line. China and the Netherlands qualify for Athens. Remarkably, in these calm conditions, the Netherlands came within nine seconds of the World Best time set by eight powerhouse, Romania in 1999. The medal ceremony had to be sidestepped as the jubilant Netherlands left to prepare for the quad.

Women’s Double Sculls

The six crews waiting for the starters command knew that about seven minutes later they were either going to be ecstatic or depressed. Only the top two positions would secure a trip to the Athens Olympics.

Bulgaria’s Miglena Markova and Anet-Jaklin Bushman were the favourites coming into this event having recorded the fastest time through the heats. Bypassing yesterday’s repechage, Markova and Bushman were ready to race. Taking the head of the field the Bulgarians left it up to the other boats to fight for second and it was Caroline Delas and Gaelle Buniet of France that looked promising. Delas and Buniet took the long way to the final by winning their repechage yesterday and going at it the hard way seems to be what they like. At last year’s World Championships the duo missed out on Olympic qualification by one spot. Today, sitting in second, they had to give it their all.

As the final sprint came into view Bulgaria, rating 36, was confidently in front while France was being forced out of the second qualifying spot by a charging United States. Despite a slow start Ala Piotrowski and Carol Skricki of the United States were giving it their all and bearing down on the French. With a mere 50 metres to go the US, rating 43 had overtaken France. But France came back and in the closing 30 metres the French reclaimed second, qualifying for Athens along with Bulgaria.

Women’s Single Sculls Semi-final

The large number starting in the women’s single meant a semi-final was necessary to determine the last six boats for the final. This required a top three finish to move on to tomorrow’s final. Frida Svensson of Sweden proved to be a known quantity by qualifying through the heats with the fastest time and in the first of two semi-finals, Svensson continued to look good. A C-finalist in 2003, Svensson’s training since last year’s World Championships was paying off. With more maturity and more experience under her belt Svensson was on her way. The Swede led from the start followed closely by Femke Dekker of the Netherlands who comes into the single after missing out on her country’s quad and a little further back Latvia’s Kristiana Rode held on to third.

This order remained the same with Mirna Rajle of Croatia unable to move on these frontrunners. At the finish Svensson, Dekker and Rode keep their qualifying hopes alive.

Jen Devine of the United States gave another example of a successful comeback, after a four year break, when she raced a controlled and confident race in the second semi-final. Although not in the lead at the start, Devine had soon worked her way to the front and was battling neck-and-neck with Alex Beever of Great Britain as the half-way point came into sight. Poland’s 19-year-old Julia Michalska held on in third. This is Michalska’s first year as a senior after winning at the Junior World Championships last year.

In the closing quarter the race Devine continued to sit very comfortably in front and no challenges were presented to either Beever or Michalska who both move on to the final. 

Men’s Single Scull

After two days of intense racing the final six crews lined up all aiming for the top three spots to qualify for the Olympic Games. Tim Maeyens of Belgium got off to a solid start just ahead of 2000 Olympic finalist Ivo Yanakiev of Bulgaria. Going through the half way point Yanakiev had a slight lead while Maeyens and Lawson pegged each other stroke for stroke. This saw the gap widen between the top three boats and the rest of the field.

Coming into the final sprint a tiring Lawson was hanging on for dear life as he detected a threat from the other side of the course. Sweden’s Lassi Karonen in lane six was posing a challenge to lane one’s Lawson. Looking out of the boat Lawson didn’t know what to expect from the sprinting Swede. Lawson, however, had just enough and qualifies for Athens along with Maeyens and Yanakiev.

Yanakiev, who finished fifth at the Sydney Olympics and missed out on Olympic qualification last year by one place, commented afterwards; ?I didn’t do it (qualify) at Milan. Psychologically it has been tough. I am now very happy.? Meanwhile a happy Maeyens said he would now take a week off to sit his university exams. 

Women’s Pair

This was a straight final so none of the six crews knew where they stood coming into this race. The only thing for certain was that they needed to be in the top two positions. Ukraine’s Tatyana Bakhmat and Nataliya Rijkova got off to a smoking start followed by Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles of New Zealand with Milka Tancheva and Anna Chuk of Bulgaria trying to hold on to Ukraine’s fast pace.

A piece by Tancheva and Chuk with 1200 metres gone accelerated them into the lead, but only just inches ahead of Bakhmat and Rijkova. Still everyone knew there were only two qualifying spots and New Zealand remained very much in the picture. As the final sprint came into view the stroke rates continued to increase, the intensity multiplied and three boats were using every last bit of energy. The Bulgarians were just in front, New Zealand had moved into second and Ukraine was a mere canvas down. The intensity then reared its ugly head for Rijkova as just 40 metres before the finish she caught a boat stopping crab. Ukraine’s Olympic dream was over. Bulgaria and New Zealand add to their nation’s Olympic line up.

Men’s Pair

Two positions were available to these rowers. Six boats all wanted it. Four crews would leave the course devastated. Fingernails were getting shorter and shorter. Starting out at the head of the field Tobias Kuehne and Jan Herzog of Germany and Marcos Morales and Walter Naneder of Argentina were putting themselves in the position of being early favourites. However Poland was still very much in the picture and a strong middle 1000 promoted them into second place with Argentina slipping back to third.

Going through the 1500 metre mark only two seconds separated these top three boats and it was all on coming into the final sprint with Denmark adding to the pressure. At the line Germany held on to the lead followed closely by a sprinting Argentina. These two countries will now head for Athens.

Men’s Double Sculls

The top times from the repechages had been unbearably close and with only two qualifying spots available, this was shaping up to be a fight all of the way to the line.

Germany’s Rene Bertram and Christian Schreiber had the pressure of being the sole German boat that had not yet qualified and with this in mind they took to the head of the field and never looked back. Behind them the battle unfolded for second with Norway, Poland and Russia all clearly in the running.

Norway’s Nils-Torolv Simonsen and Morten Gundro had their work cut out for them as Poland unleashed a piece at the 1200 metre mark that propelled them into second. But Poland paid dearly for this piece. Going into the final sprint all they could do was try and hold on and pray that the line would appear as soon as possible. At the line Bertram and Schreiber qualify with Simonsen and Gundro also joining the world of Olympians.

Germany’s sport director, Michael Mueller was there at the medal podium as Germany qualified its last boat for the Olympics, now with a crew in every single event. ?That’s a full house for Germany,? said Mueller after the race. ?We did it in 1992 and 1996 but not in 2000.?

Men’s Four

Two spots were available and coming out of the start four boats remained within a canvas of each other. At this stage it was anyone’s guess who would qualify ? Denmark, the Czech Republic, France and Croatia were all in with a chance. Croatia had been playing around with combinations of four and eight line-ups all season to varying success. Denmark had only just missed out on qualifying at last year’s World Championships. The Czech Republic was barely in the fours picture in 2003. France finished last year in thirteenth spot making them only two places off qualifying. All were ultra-motivated to qualify for this year’s Olympics.

Today these four countries were still within two seconds of each other with half of the race gone. But all was about to change. France was finding the speed way too much and found themselves slipping further and further back. The Czech Republic was setting the pace and moving further and further in front. Croatia, stroked by Marko Dragicevic, was maintaining a consistent pace, which opened up a gap over Denmark.

Moving into the closing quarter of the race the Czech Republic and Croatia demonstrated the best race execution. Both boats will go to the Olympics. This means that Croatia’s two seat, Igor Boraska, will now head for his fifth Olympic Games having seen three summer Olympics and one winter. ?We always do it in the last minute,? said Boraska after the race. ?It was a tough race.? Despite Boraska’s level of experience he admitted the tension was high. 

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls

The six remaining crews were all aiming for the top two spots and it was Poland’s Ilona Mokronowska and Magdalena Kemnitz who shot out to an early lead followed closely by Heather Boyle and Sinead Jennings of Ireland.  Thirty-two year old Mokronowska has yet to see an Olympic Games but has an international career stretching back to 1993, while partner, Kemnitz, at 19 years old raced as a junior in 2003. Together they led the field throughout the race and watched the struggle go on for the second and final qualifying spot.

Ireland continued to hold on to this coveted position while keeping tabs on Juliane Rasmussen and Johanne Thomsen of Denmark. With three quarters of the race gone Ireland still had a slight advantage over Denmark and the sprint was on for the finish. Denmark’s sprint won out as Ireland faded.  The Danes may have been way far away, past the finish line out there on the water, but the screams of joy from Rasmussen and Thomsen were very audible. Denmark had taken it to a photo finish with a sprinting Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen from Finland to qualify. This was Finland’s last hope to qualify a boat for the Olympics and to come so close was devastating for the country. The Polish double and Denmark qualify for Athens.

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls

Four spots were available and with athletes weighing in at an average of 70 kilograms, this had been a long, lean day for some of these rowers. Justin Gevaert and Wouter Vanderfraenen of Belgium jumped out to an early lead maintaining it through the middle part of the race. But behind them the United States line up of Steve Tucker and Greg Ruckman were coming into their own. Despite a slow start Tucker and Ruckman were feeling confident and by the 1200 metre mark they had pulled into the lead.

With the final sprint coming into view and the Americans out in front, the fight for the three remaining spots was all on. The Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia and Belgium were all in the running. But disaster then struck for the Russians. With about 50 metres left to row Russia ran out of gas and all but stopped. This left the United States to qualify by coming first with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Belgium also going to Athens. Lubos Podstupka and Lukas Babac now become the flag bearers for Slovakia being the sole rowers from their country to qualify for the Olympics.

At the finish the United States admitted they had qualified the hard way. ?The easy route would have been better,? said Tucker who, with Ruckman, had missed out on qualifying at Milan last year.  

Lightweight Men’s Four

Narrowed down to the final six, only two boats had the opportunity to qualify and it was Austria that decided to dominate this race. Stroked by Wolfgang Sigl the Austrians had more than a two-second lead at the 1000-metre mark over a fast-paced Japan. This is when Serbia and Montenegro, maintaining a very consistent pace, took advantage of their race plan and started to move from fifth position through the field.

By the 1500 metre mark Serbia and Montenegro had passed both Poland and Japan and were going after Chile in second. They did not slow down. Recording the fastest last 500 metres split of all of the boats Serbia and Montenegro charged for the line overtaking leaders Austria in the process. Austria and Serbia and Montenegro move on to the 2004 Olympic Games.  

Men’s Quad 

The full quota of six boats all aiming for the two available qualifying positions had not yet raced each other. Racing a straight final is tricky, as no crew knows the level of their competitors especially with the arrival of the United States who had not raced in Europe yet this summer.

In one of the least exciting races of the day Ukraine took an early lead followed by the United States and these two boats at the head of the field tussled with each other leaving the rest of the competition to slip further and further back. As the leading boats, Ukraine and USA, moved into the closing 500 metres, clear water separated them from the rest of the field. Both countries qualify easily for the Olympics. 

Men’s Eight

Five boats lined up in this straight final but only two would qualify 2000 metres later as a light rain added to the moderate temperatures of the day.

This was the Netherlands’ chance to add another boat to their Olympic schedule and after posting promising results all season it was not surprising to see them push into the lead through the middle of the race. But sticking closely to them was Poland. The Poles last saw a men’s eight at the Olympics in Munich in 1972 and today they wanted to make history. Pacing the Dutch through the middle of the race the Poles were on fire and moving away from Romania.

With 500 metres left to race the Netherlands had the lead and were being followed very closely by Poland. The Netherlands finished first but it was the Poles who were the happiest as coxswain Daniel Trojanowski stood up in the boat signaling victory.

Women’s Quad

Closing the day, the women’s quad became the last race to give Dutch crew members, who raced earlier today and qualified by finishing first in the women’s eight, as much time to recover as possible. It also allowed Guixin Feng and Xiaoli Gu from China’s double to squeeze in some more recuperation time and try again to qualify.

The three boats racing in this straight final all had to aim for the number one position as only one qualification spot was available and going into the event Russia was the crew to beat. Larisa Merk in bow seat for Russia won bronze last year in the double and sitting in front of her, Yulya Levina is an Olympic bronze medallist from 2000.

As the first 500-metre mark came into view the Russians already had a boat length lead over the rest of the field with the Netherlands sitting in second. By the half way point nearly four seconds separated Russia from the Dutch. This gap remained until the finish with the Netherlands never challenging Russia’s lead.

 

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