Good fortune for Uruguay at South American Games

By Melissa Bray

Uruguay may be small when it comes to rowing, but they have just made their mark at the South American Games by competing in five races and winning five medals. Taking gold for Uruguay, the lightweight men’s quad was led by 2004 Olympians Joe Reboledo and Rodolfo Collazo with the youth of Emiliano Dumestre and Angel Garcia.

Roboledo and Collazo also took a silver medal in the lightweight men’s double behind Brazil’s Olympians Jose Sobral and Thiago Gomes.

Uruguayan press officer Jose Luis Soto attributes Uruguay’s success to three points: hard work, good coaching (Ruben Scarpatti and Esteban Fazzio) and extra funding.

Soto noted that the rowers are continually competing against each other and with that has come an improved standard. But overall it was Argentina that topped the medals table. The Argentineans, with the help of top sculler Santiago Fernandez, left with golds in six of the 14 events and a 10 medal total. Brazil followed in second with three golds and a total of 11 medals.

These top two South American rowing nations turned on one of the closest races of the Games when Brazil’s Marcelus Silva and Jose Rangel went up against Argentina (brothers Sebastian Fernandez and Santiago Fernandez) in the men’s double. At the line Argentina had the edge, but only by a second.

Argentina kept their Eton World Rowing Championships ninth placed men’s quad together for the South American Games. Rodrigo Ruiz, Alejandro Cucchietti, Martin Bonini and Nicolas Sanchez easily won over Brazil to earn another gold for their nation.

Winning both of the two gold medals for Chile, Olympian Soraya Jadue teamed up with Maria Orellana to first win the women’s pair and then return on the final day of racing to take the second gold in the women’s single.

The South American Games were held in Argentina with rowing situated at the Laguna de los Padres rowing course just outside of Mar del Plata near the Games host city of Buenos Aires. These Games were first staged in 1978 in Bolivia and have gone on every four years since. Argentina has been dominant in the overall medals tally and this year they topped the table with a total of 296 medals.

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