Press Release: Day four review

It was a good day for the USA and Australia – each saw two of their boats qualify for the A Finals: the Women's Quadruple Sculls and the Men's Eight. On Monday, the Australian Men's Eight finished last in their heat when their boat broke its rudder, but six-time Olympian and three-time Olympic Champion James Tomkins, 42, led the Aussies to second place in their repechage just behind reigning Olympic Champions and World Best time holders from the United States.

Germany also qualified two crews (the Women's Quadruple Sculls and the Women's Pair) for the A Finals but suffered a major setback when its Men's Eight was relegated to the B Final – the first time in recent memory for the famous "Deutschlandachter". In the Women's Quadruple Sculls, Germany's great Kathrin Boron – rowing's all-time most medalled female athlete, at her fifth Olympic Games – is seeking her fifth Olympic gold medal. Boron and her crewmates won their repechage ahead of the United States which had placed second at the 2008 Rowing World Cup in Lucerne.

Finishing first in their repechage, China's Women's Pair of You Wu and Yulan Gao also qualified for the Final. The Chinese Men's Eight had a heart-breaking finish in the eights repechage and missed qualification for the Final by just five hundredths of a second, a breath behind Poland.

In the Lightweight Women's and Men's Double Sculls, the Lightweight Men's Four and the Men's Quadruple Sculls, crews were vying for a top two or top three finish to advance to the next round of racing – the semifinals on Thursday 14 August.

In the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls, Portugal and Cuba surprised the rest of the field by overtaking their competitors from fourth and third respectively in the last 500m and taking the two qualifying spots in that race. This put an end to the hopes of experienced Olympians from Hungary and Japan. "Today it was good to get close to the teams and we managed to sprint at the end and win, just as we did in Poznan at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, "said Pedro Fraga of Portugal.

In the Lightweight Men's Four, Ireland, which qualified for the Olympic Games at the Final Qualification Regatta last June, won their repechage ahead of the Netherlands and the USA, all three crews advancing to the semifinal round. "We usually have a very good second half of a race, so when we were second at 1000m we were confident we could win," said three-time Olympian Gearoid Towey.

Racing Wednesday 13 August features semifinals in five boat classes of Group A: the Women's Single Sculls (W1x), the Men's Single Sculls (M1x), the Men's Pair (M2-), the Men's Double Sculls (W2x) and the Men's Four.

For more information:
FISA media officer
Débora Feutren
Mobile: +41 79 793 5600
E-mail: debora.feutren@fisa.org