Keeping it lean – the lightweight women’s double sculls

This event appeared at the Olympic Games just four Games ago and has remained the only event for lightweight women at the Olympics.

Each crew must be less than 59kg and have a crew average of 57kg. Often the rowers at the top level are more than 170cm tall, making for a very lean athlete. At the 2008 Olympics the Dutch winners Kirsten van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen were 172cm and 176cm tall respectively.

In its short Olympic history the event has been dominated at the top by Romanians. Romania held the Olympic Champion title in 1996, 2000 and 2004 and one name, Constanta Burcica, placed her mark on all three of those medals. During Burcica’s winning run, when crews lined up at the start line of an international race and saw that Burcica was racing, they could immediately check off one of the medals as taken.

Burcica also managed to successfully change between open-weight and lightweight rowing. At the 1992 Olympics and again in 2008, Burcica competed as an open-weight, first in the women’s quadruple sculls and then in the women’s eight. She medalled in both boats. If not a rower Burcica says she would have become an actress. “I’ve always wanted to be the best, to be the first,” she confided. “I couldn’t live as an unknown.”

Angela Alupei was in the boat for two of Burcica’s Olympic gold medals, making her the second most successful rower in this event. Alupei was in the boat with Burcica at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. Like Burcica, Alupei also competed as an open-weight rower and has a medal in the women’s quad from the 1996 Olympic Games.

The reign of the Romanians then seemed to weaken after Athens. At the 2008 Olympics they did not race in the lightweight double. In their absence, the challenge for Olympic glory was made by their old rivals van der Kolk and van Eupen. The Dutch duo were at their third Olympic Games after finishing sixth in 2000 and third in 2004. Beijing was their Olympics and a gold was added to van der Kolk and van Eupen’s collection.

As 2012 moves towards the London Olympics, the Romanians are practically out of sight in this event as they are yet to even qualify for the Games. Van Eupen and van der Kolk retired after Beijing with a new Dutch pairing has qualified for London from ninth position at the 2011 World Rowing Championships. The focus now is squarely on Greece.

The exceptional Greek duo of Alexandra Tsiavou and Christina Giazitzidou are on a roll.  Tsiavou is already the veteran of one Olympic Games having raced in Beijing with former partner Chrysi Biskitzi where they finished sixth. Biskitzi then retired and Tsiavou joined with under-23 rower, Giazitzidou. The success was instant. Giazitzidou and Tsiavou became World Champions in 2009 and repeated this performance in 2011.

Crossing the finish line at the 2011 World Rowing Championships with a four second winning margin was considered a dominating win and puts Giazitzidou and Tsiavou in the position of favourites leading up to the London Olympics. Other challenges are likely to come from Great Britain, Canada the United States and Australia.

Did you know?
* When Minna Nieminen and Sanna Sten won silver in the lightweight double at the Beijing Olympics it was the first Olympic rowing medal for Finland in 24 years.
* The World Best Time was set in 2006 by China’s Dongxiang Xu and Shimin Yan. Their time was 6:49.77.
* In non-Olympic years it is common to see some of the best lightweight double scullers rowing in the lightweight single.
 

Olympic Medal Table