SCHINIAS, Greece – The men’s eight won the gold medal, ending a 40-year Olympic gold-medal drought, while the women’s eight brought home the silver medal on Sunday at the Olympic rowing competition at the Schinias Olympic Rowing and Canoeing Center.
The men’s eight of Pete Cipollone (Ardmore, Pa.), Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio), Beau Hoopman (Plymouth, Wis.), Dan Beery (Oaktown, Ind.), Matt Deakin (San Francisco, Calif.), Joey Hansen (Bakersfield, Calif.), Chris Ahrens (Milwaukee, Wis.), Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine), and Jason Read (Ringoes, N.J.) took the lead off the start and never permitted a serious challenge as it went wire-to-wire in winning the gold medal. The crew took a slight lead at the 500-meter mark before extending its advantage to more than three seconds at the midway point of the race. The U.S. kept the rest of the field at bay for the remainder of the row, finishing 1.27 seconds ahead of the Netherlands. Australia won the bronze in a 5:45.38. For the U.S., it was the first Olympic medal in the men’s eight since winning a bronze in 1988 and the first gold medal since 1964.
Crazy Eights: U.S. crews get gold, silver
The women’s eight of Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.), Lianne Nelson (Seattle, Wash.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Laurel Korholz (La Jolla, Calif.), Anna Mickelson (Bellevue, Wash.), Alison Cox (Turlock, Calif.), Megan Dirkmaat (San Jose, Calif.), Sam Magee (Simsbury, Conn.), and Kate Johnson (Portland, Ore.) came away with the silver medal after finishing 1.86 seconds behind Romania. The U.S. boat held a narrow 0.26-second lead on the Romanians for the first half of the race, but the defending Olympic champions had a little more speed over the final 1,000 meters as they inched ahead of the U.S. boat. The Americans clocked a 6:19.56 to Romania’s 6:17.70. The Netherlands won the bronze medal in a 6:18.85. For the U.S., the medal was the first in the women’s eight since winning gold in 1984 in Los Angeles.
For the final Olympic Rowing standings the link is here.