Olympic A-final preview - Backing a winner; United States women’s eight

This eight has created quite a legacy already with an unbroken winning streak that began in 2006. It would be hard to find any other boat with such a record. Steering the way for this entire time has been coxswain Mary Whipple.

Whipple, aged 32, is at her third Olympic Games and the success of her boat has ranked her second, behind the great siqngle sculler Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, on the top 10 rowers list for 2011.

Whipple described the race and her role.

Leadership: “My girls are so good; they allow me and enable me to lead.”

The race plan: “We keep it simple, especially when it gets really loud, but basically, I’m the little voice inside their heads that we want more, go now.”

The 2012 World Rowing Cup result: “We were still in the middle of selection and this is a different boat from Lucerne. It was a great race and the race in the women’s eight is going to come down to the last stroke and that’s what we’re prepping for.”

The Olympic final: “It’s the Olympics and anything can happen within that Olympic final and it’s legitimate that everybody has a shot on that podium. I think to kind of not let any distraction in, we’re going to just focus on what we can do in our lane and execute what we’ve envisioned, what we’ve practiced, what we believe and the results are going to take care of themselves.”

Along with Whipple the other consistency in the US women’s eight has been coach, Tom Terhaar. Terhaar comes to national team rowing from collegiate coaching and it did not take him long to establish his winning abilities. Now as head women’s sweep coach for the United States, Terhaar knows what makes an eight go fast.

The final: “This is an Olympic final and people turn it up. Who knows, we hope to race whoever shows. It could be someone that none of us are expecting to win.”

Canadian rivalry: “I respect the hell out of them. I like the coach; I like the athletes. We want to win, of course, but rivalry, no. Romania is the one I’m always watching out for. What do they have, three Olympic gold medals in a row? They’ve medalled pretty much every Olympics since it was created. They’re the ones I keep an eye out for.”