Preview Day Four: Crews look to progress at 2012 Olympic Rowing Regatta

Issaka, 35, started rowing recently and is the first ever representative for his country in Olympic rowing. With the help of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity Scholarship, Tunisian rowing and FISA,  the International Rowing Federation, Issaka has been able to train and build up to this event. Every time he races Issaka has the entire 20000+ strong regatta audience with him for every stroke.

The repechage in the women’s double sculls is up next with the top two boats getting to advance to the A-final. Heats in the women’s double took place one day ago, on 30 July, and a cracking standard was set when Great Britain’s Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins broke the Olympic Best Time. The repechage is likely to be led by China’s Min Wang and Weiwei Zhu. This is the first Olympics for both of these rowers and they come to London after qualifying the boat in 2011.

The men’s four repechage has four boats with the top three getting to advance to the semifinals and following the results from the heats it looks as if Italy will have the toughest job to get through. At the other end New Zealand only just missed out on qualifying through the heats.

Two repechages in the lightweight women’s double sculls has crews vying for a top three finish for advancement to the semifinals and in repechage one the World Best Time holders, New Zealand’s Louise Ayling and Julia Edward are racing. Ayling and Edward came together earlier this year and right from the start the combination clicked. They are the fastest qualifiers from the heats for this repechage.

Repechage two is likely to see a tough battle between the United States (Kristin Hedstrom and Julie Nichols) and Canada (Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee). Jennerich and Obee are the World silver medallists but failed to fire during the heats. Hedstrom and Nichols have medalled this year through the World Cup series.

The lightweight men’s double sculls has two repechages with the top two from each repechage getting to advance to the semifinals. Both repechages will be tough in this invariably close-raced event. Repechage one may see a surprise result with Greece, Hungary, Canada and Australia all showing that they have great speed. Canada, however, should have the edge after finishing with the next fastest qualifying time from the heats.

Cuba’s Manuel Suarez Barrios and Yunior Perez Aguilera should have the edge in repechage two, following a solid performance in the heats. They will be up against a strong Asian contingent that includes Japan and China. Sitting in Japan’s boat is Daisaku Takeda who is racing at his fifth Olympic Games.

There are five boats in the women’s eight repechage and the top four will advance to the A-final. Romania, who owned the centre of the medals podium at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, will be giving it their all to advance their prized boat. With Australia and the Netherlands racing on either side of the Romanians, this is the trio of countries that are likely to do battle.

Quarterfinals for the men’s single sculls are up next. Beginning at 11:00am (GMT) five-time World Champion, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand should lead the way in quarterfinal one. The top three boats get to go to the seimfinals and new Olympic Best Time holder, Tim Maeyens of Belgium is likely to try to press Drysdale. Quarterfinal two will see a tight battle between Marcel Hacker of Germany and Great Britain’s Alan Campbell. Both Hacker and Campbell look in form when they won their heats on 28 July and they are likely to test out each other’s speed.

This is the second Olympics for Lassi Karonen of Sweden and he is likely to take charge of quarterfinal three. Karonen was sixth in 2008 and comes to London with more experience and better erg scores. Argentina’s Santiago Fernandez has come and gone from rowing over the years with his best result being a fourth-place finish at the 2004 Olympics. He is also one to watch.

Quarterfinal four will be tough. Gold and silver medallists from the 2008 Olympics will be racing – Olaf Tufte of Norway and Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic. Tufte has not been on form recently and may find it tough especially as World Rowing Cup medallist, Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba in the race.

The women’s single sculls also has quarterfinals and quarterfinal one features Australia’s newest sensation, Kim Crow racing. Crow is the sole rower at this regatta who is racing in more than one event and after winning her heat on 28 July she then raced in the women’s double sculls, again winning her heat. Crow will be up against New Zealand’s Emma Twigg who is the World bronze medallist.

The 2010 World Champion (Frida Svensson of Sweden) races 2011 World Champion (Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic) in quarterfinal two. Knapkova is likely to outrace Svensson who has not been in the best form and comes to these quarterfinals after finishing second in her heat.

Quarterfinal three has the in-form Xiuyun Zhang of China in the preferred middle lane. Zhang won her first Olympic medal in 1996 (women’s double) and after retiring in 2009 she has made a promising comeback. Zhang had the fastest of all of the times from the singles heats. Russia’s Julia Levina is likely to be the only one with a chance of pressing Zhang.

Women’s single quarterfinal four is a star race as Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus will be racing. Karsten is at her sixth Olympic Games and, now 40 years old, she shows no signs of slowing down. A recent rib injury prevented Karsten from racing more frequently this season, but she looked stylish when she won her heat on 28 July.

The men’s double sculls semifinal is next up with the top three boats earning a spot in the final. Racing in the heats on 28 July were incredibly close and these semifinals are likely to see photo finishes. In semifinal one World Champions New Zealand will be up against the very fast Germans and very fast Italians. But the 2008 Olympic Champions, Australia can’t be dismissed. The final sprint will be massive.

Semifinal two will be even tougher. Only Canada looks to be off the pace leaving five boats to go for three positions. Slovenian heroes and Olympic Champions Iztok Cop and Luka Spik are tough. Lithuania and Norway keep on pulling out surprisingly good races despite their more experienced competition. France regular win medals and Great Britain will have the home crowd advantage. Picking the top three is impossible.

Rounding out this full day of racing are the lightweight men’s four semifinals which means a top three finish is required. The lightweight four is regularly a stroke-for-stroke race from start to finish and semifinal one will be no exception. All six crews have proved their worth, even the United States who qualified by winning their repechage. Great Britain may have a slight advantage following their commanding race in the heats.

Semifinal two is the last race of the day and may be even tighter than semifinal one with six crews, all with good credentials, contending. The Danish Olympic Champions are there, the reigning World Champions, Australia race, the second fastest qualifiers from the heats, France are there and China, South Africa and Italy have all medalled internationally.