First European Rowing Champions in 34 years

The last day of racing at the first European Rowing Championships of the 21st century saw crews race for rankings 7 to 12 in the B Finals, before decisive racing took place in the A Finals to determine the first European rowing champions in 34 years.

Women's single sculls (W1x) – B Final

The first race of the third and last day of racing at the European Rowing Championships saw Italian Gabriella Bascelli and Hungarian Katalin Szabo seeded in the middle lanes to fight for seventh place overall.

Italy stayed in punishing form ahead of the field throughout, widening the clear water gap with nearest competitor Hungary, and crossing the line a full four lengths ahead.

This year's Under-23 bronze medalist Katalin Szabo from Hungary kept her energy for the last quarter of the race, moving up from fourth after 500m and then lingering in third for another 1000m, seemingly content. Clearly Natallia Haurylenka of Belarus wanted to keep second place, but the Hungarian would have none of it and in the closing 250m Szabo attacked, moving up the field, gaining strength with every stroke and overtaking Belarus. Belarus counterattacked, but Hungary kept the advantage, finishing half a length ahead of her challenger.

Latvia's Kristine Gosa crossed the line in tenth overall, Lina Saltyte of Lithuania in eleventh and France's Roxane Gabriel, who fell back from second at 500m, in twelfth.

Results: ITA, HUN, BLR, LAT, LTU, FRA

Men's single sculls (M1x) – B Final

Dmytro Prokopenko of Ukraine had decided to show off his experience in today's race, determined to rank no lower than seventh overall at European level. Silver medallist at the 2006 World Rowing Championships in the quad, and a systematic finalist at senior level since 2005, the 25-year-old had not included a B Final in his race plan for Poznan. Surprisingly, his main challenge up until the final 60 strokes came not from Olympic bronze medallist in the pair Luca Agamennoni of Italy, who had no further ambition than to stay in fifth place throughout, but from Monaco's sole rowing representative, Mathias Raymond, who finished sixth at the this year's World Rowing Under 23 Championships. Ukraine led at 500m, Monaco at 1000m. By 1500m, Ukraine had secured the advantage.

But a surprised Monaco saw Dutchman Robin Van Keeken moving up the field fast. At the halfway mark, The Netherlands was still the furthest behind, and with 60 strokes left until the line ranked only fourth. But that had been part of the plan, and Van Keeken had sufficient energy left to get level with Monaco and overtake Raymond to finish less than one second ahead in eighth place overall, and nearly three seconds behind B Final winner Ukraine.

Kiryl Lemiashkevich of Belarus crossed the line in tenth overall, Luca Agamennoni in eleventh and France's Daniel Blin, who had managed to move up to third place by the 1500m mark, had no more stamina to keep the pace and finished at the back of the field in thirteenth overall.

Results: UKR, NED, MON, BLR, ITA, FRA

Men's pair (M2-) – Final B

This B Final only featured two crews: Marko Grace and Blaz Velcl of Slovenia and Tsvetan Ivanov Stoyanov and Hristo Hadziperev of Bulgaria. This two-boat duel, reminiscent of an Oxford-Cambridge boat race (according to commentator Paul Castle) saw a Bulgarian crew which has improved throughout the regatta, since their first race in the heat on Friday. However, Slovenia held the lead throughout the race, and there was little else for Bulgaria to do than to hang on, and hope. With a consistent gap between the two crews along the course, Slovenia, in a most spirited performance, comfortably crossed the line in 7:01.95, whereas Bulgaria take the 8th position overall in 7:09.15.

Results: SLO, BUL

Women's double sculls (W2x) – B Final

Only three competitors in this race (Norway, Romania and Germany), and Norway were the favourites, with bow Martha Helgeland having finished twelfth overall in the same boat class at the World Rowing Championships a few weeks ago.

Romania's Maria Bursuc is an Under-23 World Champion, and she and partner here in Poznan Daniela Cristea, raced in the quadruple sculls at the under 23s in Strathclyde, where they finished sixth in the A Final.

Germany are also an experienced crew, with 2005 World Junior Champion Anna-Theresa Kluchert in bow and Jeannine Hennicke, 2006 world bronze medallist in the quad, in stroke position.

Which of these three crews would defend their honour?

Crew placing would settle at the start and remain unchanged until the line: Norway, Romania and Germany.

Results: NOR, ROU, GER

Men's double sculls (M2x) – Final B

As the six contestants from this race sat on the start line, all eyes must have been cast on Poland and Germany, who had come directly through Friday’s heats.

But with the extra race practice on Saturday, Slovakia was the crew to be seen up in front at 750m. Despite taking their time in the repechage, Peter Lejko and Lubos Podstupa, presumably just strategically saving some energy for today’s race or perhaps just having a bad day, certainly showed a good performance in this B Final.

As pointed out by race commentator Paul Castle, the Slovenian Podpuska, who will turn 35 this week, is the oldest and only athlete in this field to have been around at the time of the last European Rowing Championships, though of course only as a young child at the time.

Ukraine, who had started off toward the back of the field, made a leap forward between 500m and 1000m, and by that point were actually to be seen at the head of the field. A great race developed, as Austria, who had had a rather sluggish start, soon decided to also make a push for the comeback, placing in third position of this race, implying a 9th place overall. Ukraine had remained ahead, though in a tight squeeze for the line – only 0.34 seconds ahead of Slovakia.

Results: UKR, SVK, AUT, LAT, DEN, NOR

Men's four (M4-) – B Final

Denmark put on a superb performance in this race, with stroke Christian Moelvig, who claimed silver in the lightweight men's eight at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne last July. Looking like they were of another class, the Danes wanted to show their form; starting in the lead, they stayed in the lead, out of touch with the rest of the field, and crossed the line a full three lengths ahead.

Behind the Danes, close racing went on between Ukraine, Portugal and Lithuania, with Lithuania and Ukraine swapping second and third place during the first half of the race. But Portugal, rating a high 37 strokes per minute, moved from fifth at 500m to third with 500m to go. Attempting a last challenge against Ukraine in the final 250m, Portugal was aiming for a second and eighth place overall, but just missed out, finishing less than one second behind Ukraine.

Lithuania finish tenth overall, Romania eleventh and Slovakia twelfth, 20 seconds behind leaders Denmark.

Results: DEN, UKR, POR, LTU, ROU, SVK

Lightweight women's double sculls (LW2x) – Final B

Portugal and France competed in Saturday’s repechage. In that race, Portugal was ahead, but only by a small gap ahead of France. Today’s race showed that the two crews really were competing at their best on Saturday, and could not change their performance today.

Portugal’s Ana Raquel Santos and Maria Lima raced on ahead of Anne Touminet and Coralie Simon. At no single point could they sit back, with the French constantly on their back, half a second behind. By the 1500m the gap had widened slightly, but the lead was still not comfortable, and it would take to the finish line for Portugal to really secure their place, seventh overall in the European Rowing Championships lightweight double sculls. France finish in eighth position overall.

Results: POR, FRA

Lightweight men's double sculls (LM2x) – B Final

Denmark's Andreas Ramboel and Christian Nielsen attempted a repeat performance of the Danish men's four, staying at the top of the field for three quarters of the race, but British competitors Adam Freeman-Pask and Alasdair Leighton-Crawford were about to unleash the energy they had been saving in fourth place up until the halfway mark.

It took Great Britain 500m only to move up past Norway and Poland to grab second by 1500m, and only 60 remaining powerful strokes to close in on leaders Denmark. Denmark was not about to give in so easily and fought back to take the lead. But Great Britain's determination proved stronger. Freeman-Pask and Leighton-Crawford finish 0.75 seconds ahead of the Scandinavians to grab seventh overall.

Norway take ninth overall, Poland tenth, and Ukraine and Slovakia, who had toyed between fifth and sixth place throughout, take the final spots.

Results: GBR, DEN, NOR, POL, UKR, SVK

Lightweight men's four (LM4-) – Final B

With a few more years' international experience at hand, France looked to be the favourite here as they lined up with Lithuania and Belgium at the start.

France’s Damien Margat was bronze medalist in the lightweigtht men’s pair at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne in 2006 and lightweight men’s eight world champion in 2004 with current crew member Vincent Faucheux. Philippe De Wilde and Guillaume Raineau, slightly younger than their two crewmates, came sixth in this year’s World Rowing Under 23 Championships in the lightweight men’s pair in Strathclyde.

The Greek crew, which should have been in lane four, withdrew from the race this morning due to medical reasons.

Ahead the whole time, France: first closely followed by Lithuania, they later saw their challenge coming from the Belgian crew of Ruben de Gendt, Tiago Cardoso, Francois Libois and Oilivier Ek who overtook Lithuania after the 500m mark, and stayed in this spot. Keeping up under two seconds behind France, Belgium slightly gave in at the line, giving France a 3.18 second advantage. Lithuania finish far behind, to take position nine of the lightweight men’s four European Rowing Championships.

Results: FRA, BEL, LTU

Men's quadruple sculls (M4x) – B Final

Only three crews in this race, to determine places seven to nine overall: France, Hungary and Poland.

This year's Under-23 silver medallist crew France had an early show, stroking into the lead within the first couple hundred metres and maintaining it until the line.

Hungary caught a massive crab in their repechage yesterday, which deprived them of an A Final qualifying spot. Tailing close behind France, Hungary strongly challenged in the closing 500m, sneaking up on France and closing the gap. But Poland stroked high, increasing their rate to 38. The Hungarians would not make it in time and finish 0.81 seconds behind France, ranking eighth overall. Poland, keeping a consistent third place throughout, finishes ninth overall.

Results: FRA, HUN, POL

Women's single sculls (W1x) – A Final

The first A Final of the European Rowing Championships will attribute the first European gold medals in 34 years.

Favourites on paper are Bulgarian Rumyana Neykova, current World Best time holder since 2002 in this event, Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic and Sweden’s Frida Svensson. A strong field, claiming a lot of international competition experience.

With 250m gone, the bow in front was Neykova mother of two, who returned this season after having a few months off for her second child, with half a boat length on her direct opponent Knapkova.

As things started to liven up along the bank at around 1250m, and the twenty coaches cycled alongside on the opposite side, a steady race was underway. Neykova never let go – she remained ahead, comfortably checking out her opposition from the front of the field.

A good performance from Serbia’s Obradovic, who came all the way up from sixth position and even toiled with third for a while, did not guard her from being overtaken again in the last 500m by Sweden.

At the line Neykova, determined to pick up the first European gold medal of the 21st century, gave a final push. She finishes well ahead, over three seconds in front of Knapkova. Svensson, nearly ten seconds later, crossed the line in third position.

Results: BUL, CZE, SWE, SRB, NED, RUS

Men's single sculls (M1x) – A Final

Tension mounted in the starting blocks as the men's single scullers waited for the starting signal to beep and the starting lights to turn green.

Sitting in lane 1, 17-year-old Aleksandar Alekandrov of Bulgaria who scored gold at this year's World Rowing Junior Championships in Beijing (CHN); in lane 2, local boy Arnold Sobczak; in lane 3, Austrian Ralph Kreibich who at 32 has more than 15 years of international racing experience; in lane 4, world under-23 silver medallist Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania; in lane 5, 2007 World Under-23 Champion in the men's quad; in lane 6, Belgian Bart Poelvoorde, for whom 2007 was the first season of international racing.

With youth on his side, Lithuania stormed out of the starting blocks into the lead, Poland tried to keep up in second, and Bulgaria kept his cool in third. Austrian Kreibich had one of the slowest first 500m times, but was storing up power for later on in the race. At the halfway mark, Lithuania was still leading, with Austria now in second, Poland slipping back in third and Bulgaria in fourth.

With 500m left to go, Lithuania's Griskonis burned out of steam and Austria's Kreibich turned the dormant steam on, charging past Lithuania to cross the line first and grab gold. Lithuania follows in silver medal place and Bulgaria's junior rower, who had taken over Poland in the second half of the race, in bronze.

The top three leaders finish with an open water margin, leaving Poland in fourth, Germany in fifth and Belgium in sixth.

Results: AUT, LTU, BUL, POL, GER, BEL

Women's pair (W2-) – A Final

The clear favourites here were Germany, with Lenka Wech and Maren Derlien, members of Germany's powerful women's eight. Their dominance of this event was overbearing. By the halfway mark, they had secured a ten second lead over nearest rivals Vera Pochitaeva and Alevtina Podvyazkina of Russia, who maintained a steady second place throughout. By the finish line, the German leading margin had increased to over twelve seconds.

Poland's Magdalena Korczak and Anna Jankowska who made an attempt to finish in the top three, surrendered bronze to Romanians Adelina Cojocariu and Nicoleta Albu after the halfway mark and finish at the back of the field in fifth, despite local supporters on the bank shouting their encouragement.

France, moving up from sixth place at 1500m suddenly woke up and in the last 60 strokes moved up to try their luck at bronze, but the margin was too big and they finish in fourth.

With 250m left to row, the picture remained unchanged: Germany storm through to a European gold medal, Russia finish with silver and Romania with bronze. Poland and Lithuania finish in fifth and sixth respectively.

Results: GER, RUS, ROU, FRA, POL, LTU

Men' pair (M2-) – A Final

Russia, Poland, Serbia, Italy, Germany and Hungary line up in the A Final of the men’s pair.

Serbia and Italy had qualified straight from the heats, whereas the other four all came through yesterday’s repechage. Serbia and Italy certainly come into this as favourites, leaving no doubt in their heat that they were the ones to try to beat.

At 250m there was close to nothing between Serbia and Italy – at most a canvas for Serbia. In a good technical performance, Serbia really showed their ability to move their boat in this highly technical boat class.

At the halfway mark it was still Serbia ahead of Poland’s Piotr Hojka and Jaroslaw Godek. Early on in the race, Poland had overtaken Italy, and were trying to edge up towards Serbia, whose gold medal was lying in waiting at the finish line.

An excited polish commentator could not contain himself, and his excitement could be felt as Poland and Italy engaged in a close fight for the silver medal. With only half a canvas between the two boats, Italy just slightly ahead before 1750m, it was going to be close. But with 250m left to go, Poland had edged ahead again, and with the local crowd carrying them through, they just kept hold of their silver medal, ahead of Italy whose disappointment could still be read on the faces of the athletes as they received their bronze medals, several minutes later.

Results: SRB, POL, ITA, RUS, GER, HUN

Women's double sculls (W2x) – A Final

The Czech Republic and Belarus, seeded in the middle lanes, came through with the fastest qualifying times.

Two-time world junior champions and two-time world under-23 champions Gabriela Varekova and Jitka Antosova also have considerable experience at world senior level. Belarussians Hanna Nakhayeva and Volha Berazniova have proved their worth at world rowing level, as have Italy's Laura Schiavone and Elisabetta Sancassani. Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen of Finland are multiple medallists at world level in the lightweight counterpart of this event. Denmark and Ukraine are relative newcomers on the senior stage of international rowing.

But it would be the Czechs' day. In leading position from the start and keeping the lead until the end, they would not feel strongly challenged by their rivals, but would instead increase their lead steadily over the course of the race, with a closely bunched group behind them.

Ukraine chased the Czechs but lost the pace after 500m and fell back into fifth. The Belarusians increased their speed and grabbed second by the halfway mark. Finland's crew would not concede easily: moving up from fifth at 500m, they gradually but strongly overtook one crew after another in the second half of the race and grabbed silver at the line.

In the last 60 strokes, Ukraine made a final move into fourth, closing in on Italy and pushing Schiavone and Sancassani back into fifth. Denmark's Cecilie Christensen and Lisbet Jacobsen rowed largely behind on their own in sixth.

Results: CZE, FIN, BLR, UKR, ITA, DEN

Men's double sculls (M2x) – A Final

A stunning performance by Greece in this men’s double A Final.

Greece had qualified to this race through yesterday’s repechage, just ahead of Croatia, in a tight finish. In a similarly close finish, Russia and Italy had qualified through the second repechage.

Poland and Germany had come through directly, and had yesterday off to rest, recover and train, or possibly also discover the delights of the beautiful market town of Poznan. Possibly a bit too relaxed following their easy qualification, they would certainly not have been expecting the outstanding performance and excellent race that was to develop… ahead of them.

It started out with Croatia giving an early show ahead of Russia. The Russians, who were part of the 2004 Olympic Champion quad, followed by Italy, with World Rowing top ten athlete Daniele Gilardoni, no doubt the most experienced rower in this field, in stroke seat.

This order would not last long. The leading three crews edged steadily along, Croatia, Russia and Italy, swapping places along the way. But in an early move by Italy, they were suddenly to be seen at the head of the field.
Was Italy’s push too soon? Their strategy would not quite pay off. In an incredible turn of tables in the last 300m, Greece made a spectacular comeback from fifth, to third, then to first. Greece stayed there, and kept accelerating, taking nearly a boat length ahead of the rest of the field on the line.

Croatia, close behind, crossed in second position, then Germany. Italy was nowhere to be seen – no doubt flabbergasted by the turn of things, they could not cope, dropping behind Poland to fifth position. Russia, who had been relegated to the back of the field early on, came in in sixth position.

Results: GRE; CRO, GER, POL, ITA, RUS

Men's four (M4-) – A Final

The first half of this race would be a very close and tight battle between the Czech Republic and Slovenia, with world under-23 champions Germany further back in third, and another duel raging between Greece and Poland, nearly level in fourth and fifth respectively.

But disaster struck at 1500m. The oar of Slovenian stroke Miha Pirih burst out of its rigger, relegating the crew to the very back of the field, without the slightest chance of ever being able to catch up. To safeguard their ranking as finalists, the Slovenians rowed their boat to the finish to the best of their ability, crossing the line nearly three minutes after fifth-placed crew Serbia.

This fatal incident upset the rankings, moving Germany up to second and Greece to third. In the closing 100m, Greece launched an attack against Germany, trying to secure second, but Germany firmly kept hold of silver behind new European Champions Czech Republic.

Results: CZE, GER, GRE, POL, SRB, SLO

Lightweight women's double sculls (LW2x) – A Final

The giant scoreboard gave 19 degrees Celsius at the start of this race. Water was still looking as flat as a millpond, and conditions were ideal on this final day of the European Rowing Championships.

Chrysi Biskitzi and Alexandra Tsiavou would have had their spirits lifted by hearing the national anthem of Greece being played for their men’s double counterpart up in the finish area. And the motivation could be felt down at the finish line. Sitting together as a very strong looking double, Greece led the way from start to finish. Never leaving much of a chance for any of their opponents, not even the Polish double Magdalenea Kemnitz and Ilona Mokronowska for whom a race on home waters could have proved a lifting advantage too. But Greece were determined to have that anthem played for them again, so they stuck there.

At the back, Italy were trying to come back, they remained close to Poland, but never overtook Sophie Hosking and Mathilde Pauls of Great Britain, silver medallists in the lightweight quad at the Munich World Championships, who tried to decrease the gap, but to no avail.

Coming up to the line, the three leading crews in perfect unison, matching stroke by stroke, never changed the order.

Coming through, Greece, 7:12.03, Poland, 7:23.51 and Italy 7:26.57 followed loosely by Great Britain, Denmark and Hungary.

Results: GRE, POL, ITA, GBR, DEN, HUN

Lightweight men's double sculls (LM2x) – A Final

This field included 2005 World Champions Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary. Their closest rivals would come in Greek form, under the names of Olympic bronze medallist Vasileios Polymeros and new partner Dimitrios Mougios. The maturing international experience of Vetesnik brothers Jan and Ondrej of Czech Republic would also be a force to reckon with.

The victory pontoon ranking could be foreseen from the first few strokes: Hungary, then Greece, then Czech Republic. But there was no gap between them during the first half of the race. In the final 1000m, Hungary gave a big push, creating a distance with the Greeks and Czechs and securing its gold medal spot.

In the final quarter, France, stroked by this year's world silver medallist in the lightweight quad Pierre-Etienne Pollez, moved up to overtake Germany in fourth. Belarus stayed in sixth throughout, clearly behind the rest of the field.

Results: HUN, GRE, CZE, FRA, GER, BLR

Lightweight men's four (LM4-) – A Final

Serbia and Italy were favourites in the middle lane, and landed there by a direct qualification from Friday’s heats. While Italy had led the whole way, Serbia had had to work a bit harder to make it through – was this going to be the determining factor in this race? Perhaps.

According to the race commentators, whose position in the commentary boat gave them the best judging advantage, the Italians were described to be rowing beautifully. Behind them Russia and the Czech Republic were fighting for second and third position.

But soon the Czechs had fallen back, overtaken by Poland, and Serbia.

Serbia continued to come back, and eventually got into silver medal contention.

At the line, it was Italy, Serbia and Russia to stand proudly on the medal dais.

Results: ITA, SRB, RUS, POL, CZE, UKR

Women's quadruple sculls (W4x) – A Final

Friday's Final allocated each crew a lane for today's A Final, with the fastest Friday times being placed in favoured middle lanes three and four.

Ukraine in lane four was the favourite today, having come in with the fastest time. Romania in lane three, with the second-fastest time, stayed true in second, behind Ukraine, throughout the race. In Ukraine's boat sat the most experience, with several crewmembers around 30 years of age, and in the younger Romanian crew sat 2005 world several medallists in the eight Camelia Lupascu and Eniko Barabas. By the halfway mark, Germany had secured its third and bronze medal place. The top three boats would remain unchanged at the line, despite a last-minute charge by Germany against Romania to try and grab silver.

Austria remained in fourth throughout, resisting the efforts of closest challenger Poland to move up the ranks, and Belarus fell back from second at 500m into sixth, staying there until the line.

Results: UKR, ROU, GER, AUT, POL, BLR

Men's quadruple sculls (M4x) – A Final

Italy have quite a crew lined up in this race: Luca Ghezzi, Federico Gattinoni, Simone Venier and Simone Raineri are among the top crews to have traveled to Poland this week-end. But surprisingly, it took them a second take in the repechage to get here, losing to Belarus in Friday’s heat. Seen as favourites on paper, they were obviously a bit relaxed on day one, and failed to secure direct qualification. But now, Russia is ahead at the start, with the rest of the field closely packed and nothing separating the five remaining crews.

Russia had taken two lengths in the first 600m, but Italy was coming up. At 1500m, the gap was very tight, with the Italian bow and Russian stern overlapping. Italy were recovering ground at every stroke, but the Russians' good technical performance meant that they were able to remain in front. In the last 400m, Russian moved away from Italy, comfortably securing the gold medal.

Results: RUS, ITA, BLR, UKR, EST, SLO

Women's eight (W8+)

The results of Friday's Final placed Germany and Romania in the middle lanes.

Based on their awesome pedigree at Olympic, World Championship and World Cup level Romania were this event's obvious favourites. There is nothing they haven't won, and the title of European Champion would have to be added to their immense medal collection.

Germany's boat missed out on the medals at the World Rowing Championships a few weeks ago, and with a different line-up here in Poznan, they were intent to prove what they were capable of.

Other competitors included Great Britain in third, Belarus in fourth, Ukraine in fifth and the Netherlands crew-in-the-making far behind in sixth. Clear water separated Great Britain from Belarus at the 1000m mark. A gap of several lengths had formed between Ukraine and the Netherlands.

None of these positions would change at the line. Romania earn gold, Germany silver and Great Britain bronze.

Results: ROU, GER, GBR, BLR, UKR, NED

Men’s eight (M8+) – A Final

This would be the last of the men’s races today, and the race to conclude the newly reinstated European Rowing Championships. At the end of this race, fourteen new European Championship crews will be revel in their newly acquired titles, and will certainly be happy to celebrate their victories.

As the sun began to cloud over, to end an otherwise very sunny regatta, the six and only contestants in the men’s eight lined up at metre zero of the Malta regatta course, nervous and excited about the gold medal prospects ahead.

The Czechs went out ahead, just as they had rehearsed on Friday in the race for lanes. Also going to plan, if Friday was anything to go by, Poland followed closely behind. With just a canvas separating the first three boats (Romania being the third), this was looking to be a close race.

But the strong Czechs, including Vaclav Chalupa and Milan Dolecek, as well as Ondrej Synek, just got on with it, and moved away stroke by stroke in a very good performance by and what was described by commentator Sebastian Franke as a great demonstration of Czech sculling power.

Host nation Poland, would have loved to offer the Poznan public a taste of the local anthem, but before they could worry about that, they were suddenly challenged by Belarus, who in a final push before the line very nearly took away the polish silver medal. Poland reacted, and saved face in front of the hundreds of enthusiastic supporters filling the Malta grandstand. Behind them Belarus, the Ukraine, Great Britain and Romania.

Results: CZE, POL, BLR, UKR, GBR, ROU

This concludes the first European Rowing Championships, where the Czech Republic take home the biggest number of gold medals (3), ahead of an excellent performing Greece with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze, and Germany, one gold medal.