First Olympic gold in rowing for South Africa

A tail cross-wind that included wind gusts was the conditions that faced athletes today.

Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Final
At the end of this race rowing royalty and new rowing blood would be standing on the podium together. But after the first 500m no one would have been able to predict the results. Completely at the back of the field were the World Champions, New Zealand (Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan). But it is very likely that their coach, Calvin Ferguson, was not worried. Read on to find out why.

In the lead out of the start was Iztok Cop and Luka Spik of Slovenia. This very talented crew already have Olympic gold and silver in this boat class and Cop is the most medalled Olympian for his country. As Cop and Spik continued to lead a line of four boats sat behind them. The line included; Argentina, Great Britain, Italy and New Zealand.

Then things really began to shake up. In the third 500m Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti of Italy had managed to push past Spik and Cop leaving Great Britain, Argentina and New Zealand to form a line. Sartori is a multiple Olympian and has Olympic gold from the quad as well as bronze medal from the double and he knows all about Olympic finals. Teamed up this season with first time Olympian Battisti, they tried to move away from the Slovenians.

Then the sprint for the line began and what a sprint it was. Following the race on his bike, Ferguson must have been quietly confident. If Cohen and Sullivan were up there in the final sprint they would be unbeatable.

At a pace that was faster than their opening 500m split, Sullivan and Cohen hit a 43 stroke rate and rowed their way through the field. All Italy and Slovenia could do was try to hold on. At the line the New Zealanders had done it. The pocket dynamite duo of Sullivan and Cohen had won the first Olympic gold at these London Olympics for New Zealand. For Cohen it must have been absolute relief after finishing fourth in Beijing. For Sullivan he could now absolutely disprove all of the doubters that had told him he was too short to row competitively.
In second Sartori was ecstatic to win silver as were Battisti, with Cop and Spik very satisfied with bronze.
Results: NZL, ITA, SLO, ARG, GBR, LTU

Joseph Sullivan (NZL) – M2x – A-Final – GOLD
"It was painful but so, so good. We didn't see much of the race, he (Cohen) just said to go so I went. We had a lot of things to do."

Alessio Sartori (ITA) – M2x – A-Final – SILVER
"I am very happy because I was out of the national team and started in a club boat and then won national and international competitions this year and qualified in Lucerne (at the final Olympic qualification regatta). At this race we put our best in the second 1,000 metres."

Iztok Cop (SLO) – M2x – A-Final – BRONZE
"It feels nice, especially after four years of not winning a medal in a major competition."

B-final
This must have been the most talented B-final of this Olympic rowing regatta and it could well have been the A-final, that’s how high the level of talent was. Norway’s Nils Jakov Hoff and Kjetil won at the final Samsung World Rowing Cup this year. Australia’s David Crawshay and Scott Brennan are the reigning Olympic Champions. Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger of Germany have the 2009 World Championship title and France’s Julien Bahain and Cederic Berrest are Olympic medallists and come here as third in the world from last year’s World Rowing Championships.

After an initial lead by France, Hoff and Borch got into the lead and slowly inched away from their competition. Hoff is a talented musician with the harp being his main instrument. He says he uses the rhythm skills he has learnt from music to help him in his rowing.

Hoff and Borch slowly moved away from the rest of the field with Crawshay and Brennan now moving through. Hoff and Borch are known to rate lower than their competition but, despite this they remained in the lead and had enough to remain there until the end of the race.
Results: NOR, AUS, GER, FRA, UKR, CAN

Nils Jacob (NOR) – M2x – B-Final
"The race was better than the semi. We managed to learn what we did wrong then and it's disappointing that we weren't able to do it in the semifinal, but that's life."

Scott Brennan (AUS) – M2x – B-Final
"It's intensely disappointing. We worked really well together as a team."

Stephan Krueger (GER) – M2x – B-Final
"I think it was a pity that we finished fourth, but it is important to say that our achievements this year have not been bad – we are the world cup leaders."

Julien Bahain (FRA) -M2x – B-Final
"It's not that I'm disappointed that we didn't get a medal. We just couldn't do what we wanted to do. Tactically or psychologically something is missing."

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) – Final

What a finish! What a deafening roar of the crowd! But first back to the start. Denmark’s Winther, Jorgensen, Barsoe and Ebbesen did like they did in their semifinal and flew out at the start with the aim of hanging on to the end. And what a blitzing start it was – by the first 500m mark they had a full boat length lead over the field. Could they keep it up?

Australia’s Edwards, Beltz, Cureton and Skipworth started to close and these two boats moved away from the rest of the field with South Africa, Great Britain and Switzerland following in a line behind them.

Denmark were still in front, but their leading margin had narrowed as the final sprint came into view with Australia, South Africa and Great Britain right on target to attack. And attack they did. At the line it was impossible to pick the finishing order. The top four boats had finishing just over a second apart. In fourth were Australia. Third went to Denmark with Eskild Ebbesen going down in the record books as the most medalled lightweight rower having won three gold and two bronze medals from each Olympic Games since 1996. This makes him the only athlete to medal in the lightweight four every time it has been raced at the Olympics.

Silver went to Peter and Richard Chambers, Chris Bartley and Rob Williams of Great Britain. This crew came to the Olympics as World bronze medallists and also a World Champion title from 2010.

First were South Africa’s James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and Lawrence Ndlovu. Thompson, Brittain, Smith and Ndlovu have made history. They are the first crew ever to win Olympic gold in rowing for South Africa and the first Olympic gold in the sport for the continent of Africa. Throughout South Africa people had been glued to television sets to watch this race and the crew did their nation proud.
 A special mention must be made of Ndlovu. As one of the few black African rowers, Ndlovu, 31, is the most experienced in the crew. He has been rowing internationally for over a decade beginning as a junior back in 1999. In 2003 and 2007 he was part of his country’s lightweight four that tried to qualify for the Olympic Games – both times the crew missed out on qualifying. Ndlovu is third –time lucky. Congratulations to the South African coach, Roger Barrow. A fabulous result.
Results: RSA, GBR, DEN, AUS, SUI, NED

John Smith (RSA) – LM4- – A-Final – GOLD
"I kept my head down in the boat, we kept ourselves for the big sprint. They say that big sprinters finish second – not today."

Rob Williams (GBR) – LM4- – A-Final – SILVER
"The crowd are fantastic. That last 200 metres would have been a lot harder if they hadn't been there."

Eskild Ebbesen (DEN) – LM4- – A-Final – BRONZE
"I am very happy with my fifth medal. It could have been gold, it could have been fourth or fifth, so I am very happy."

B-final
France made the best of this race to take off in the lead. In 2000 they were the Olympic Champions and this boat remains a priority for their country. After an initial lead by the fast starting United States, France’s Baroukh, Solforosi, Moutton and Moreau squeezed into the lead. But there was very little in it and going through the middle of the race just two and a half seconds separated the entire field.

The margins continued to remain tight as the race saw France just in the lead. This was going to be an all-out sprint for the line and all six boats remained in a position to finish first. The sprint was intense with 24 oars digging into the water. France had done it and held on to first to become seventh in the world at these Olympic Games.
Results: FRA, USA, GER, CHN, ITA

Franck Solforosi (FRA) – LM4- – B-Final
"Today's race gave us a good feeling but this was not the result we wanted. The objective was to reach the A final so we are a bit disappointed. But we finished with a good feeling."

Seibt Bastian (GER) LM4– B-Final
"The first 1500 (metres) were okay but the last 500 there were some problems with the steering and our blades were touching the buoys at the finish. The rhythm was lost."

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Final

They are the World and Olympic Champions and right from the word ‘go’ the United States showed who was boss. Erin Cafaro, Susan Francia, Ester Lofgren, Taylor Ritzel, Meghan Musnicki, Eleanor Logan, Caroline Lind, Caryn Davies and coxswain Mary Whipple of the United States are a mix of the crew took gold in Beijing plus some new blood.

Today the Americans raced in true Olympic style and led from start to finish leaving the main battle to play out between Canada and the Netherlands. Coming into this race it seemed that Canada may be able to beat the US after recording the fastest time in the heats, but in this race they found themselves up against a flying Dutch crew and their aim must have turned into racing to hold on to silver rather than going for gold.
Uncharacteristically for the Dutch, they had gotten off the line in second and through the middle of the race held on to third just behind the Canadians. Usually the Dutch start out slow and then use a blistering sprint to get into the medals. But this race plan seemed to be working as they moved away from Romania in fourth.

Coming into the finish Canada finally got away from the Dutch and started to go after the Americans. Their sprint came too late. In a beautifully executed race, the United States had become two-time consecutive Olympic Champions. Canada had taken silver and the Netherlands had won gold. The United States now complete seven years of never losing a race.

Back in fourth Romania had not made the medals podium for the first time since the 1980 Olympic Games.
Results: USA, CAN, NED, ROU, GBR, AUS

Mary Whipple (USA) – W8+ – A-Final – GOLD
"When we crossed, it was game over. I felt so much power. And when we took our stride, we were a little high, but it was beautiful. I just told them to breathe, to enjoy the moment, to feel each stroke. We got into our rhythm, and it was just a crushing rhythm, it was relentless. It was exactly what we planned to do, what we had practised, what we have visualised."

Andreanne Morin (CAN) – W8+ – A-Final – SILVER
"I have a legend that sits in front of me (coxswain Lesley THOMPSON-WILLIE, CAN) and several superstars that sit behind me. We have raised the bar over the past few years."

Annemiek De Haan (NED) – W8+ – A-Final – BRONZE
"The last 250 (metres) I was sure. But the last 500 (metres), I looked across – and I know I shouldn't be doing that – and saw that we had half a length up on Romania. I told myself not to give that advantage away."

Zsusanna Francia (USA) – W8 +- GOLD
"Our secret is our coach. Our coach is a very severe person. At every training (session) he says that we were not good enough, we should row harder. Finally he said today that we had gone well."