Breaking the sprint rules; the Olympic men’s double

At this stage of the race could anyone have guessed the final outcome?

This is the fourth story in World Rowing’s weekly series where we review all 14 events from the London Olympic Games rowing regatta. The men’s double sculls is today’s focus.

Over the last couple of years, international races in the men’s double had remained incredibly tight. The mix of crews that had a shot at medalling at a regatta seemed to keep on growing. Coming out regularly on top was New Zealand’s Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan. But also at hand were the German 2009 World Champions, Eric Knittel and Stephan Krueger, the 2008 Olympic Champions David Crawshay and Scott Brennan (AUS), Slovenia’s best, Iztok Cop and Luka Spik and Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain of France.

Improving with each race were the Norwegians, Nils Jakob Hoff and Kjetil Borch and Great Britain was always in the mix. Then late qualifiers Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti of Italy further compounded the depth of talent.

The final six boats that lined up at the start of the 2000m Eton Dorney regatta course on 2 August, 2012 already revealed a list of casualties. It also indicated some exceptional performances, notably Argentina’s Ariel Suarez and Cristian Rosso as well as Rolandas Mascinskas and Saulius Ritter of Lithuania. These two boats had truly risen to the Olympic challenge.

The boats were now through the half way point and Italy was about to get their nose ahead of Slovenia to take the lead. Great Britain and, to a lesser extent, Argentina had slipped back ever so slightly.

But then, as the closing 500m loomed, two figures wearing the black unisuits of their national colour, New Zealand, began to sprint. At a pace that rivalled the closing sprint of the women’s eight race, Sullivan and Cohen caught up to Argentina, then Slovenia and finally Italy to win the Olympic gold.

This gold brought three years at the top end of the men’s double to a happy ending for Sullivan and Cohen. For Cohen, 26, it was his second Olympic Games after finishing fourth at the Beijing Olympics when he was partnered with Rob Waddell in the same event. In that year Sullivan, 25, was competing at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships where he won the men’s single sculls.

Sullivan’s record is impressive. Not fitting into the tall-rower stereotype, Sullivan had to battle on the water and battle the rowing selectors to make the New Zealand team. He produced the goods by taking bronze in the double as a junior. Since then Sullivan has won every major race he has entered. This has made him a three-time under-23 champion and a two-time World Champion.

But despite the pedigree of the New Zealanders, it was hard to top the talent of Iztok Cop and Luka Spik. Cop, now 40, was competing at his sixth Olympic Games and, with Spik, they were already Olympic Champions from Sydney 2000. Cop and Spik were also silver medallists from the 2004 Olympics.  The duo had joined together over a decade ago finding instant success in the double despite both admitting to having quite different personalities on and off the water.

In between Olympic Games, Cop would often return to the single for competition. The single was the boat he raced at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Cop’s biggest success, however, was always with Spik in the double. In London, Cop and Spik played a risky strategy by taking the lead at the start and holding it through the middle of the race. They gave it their all to remain in the bronze medal spot after being overtaken by Italy and then New Zealand at the end. There is no doubt that this was an impressive effort for the Slovenian’s and an apt finish with Cop announcing his retirement from competitive rowing soon after.

In the silver medal spot, the Italian double also had an impressive story. Bow seat Sartori, like the Slovenians, was an Olympic Champion from Sydney 2000 – in the men’s quadruple sculls. London was Sartori’s fifth Olympic appearance while his partner, Battisti, 26, was at his first.

Battisti’s fortuitous pairing with Sartori, ten years his senior, was a mixture of timing and location. They only came together as a double early in 2012 when they used the boat as part of their training. Right from the beginning the boat moved well. Sartori and Battisti went on to win the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May to earn a spot in the London Olympics.

This race was nothing short of spectacular with its mix of rowing stars, gutsy performances and unanticipated outcomes.