08-15-2016, 11:46 AM
Elle Logan becomes the first American women's rower to win three gold medals. Pretty remarkable accomplishment!
http://www.gostanford.com/news/2016/8/13...again.aspx
The women's eights final was a study in patience as the US allowed itself to sit in the pack while a couple of other boats jumped out for the lead. In the second half of the race, the US women maintained their pace (as did a couple of other boats who hadn't sold out for an early lead) while the leaders faltered, and then the US finally unleashed their fastest 500m split in the last 500m to seal the victory by open water. Tellingly, the CAN and NED boats who had been 1st and 2nd through the first half of the race finished 5th and 6th, respectively. (That's second-to-last and last.) GBR and ROU finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, after being 5th and 6th at the halfway mark (respectively).
I think the inverse of that happened in Luczak's pairs race, where USA tried to keep pace with the world record-holders in the GBR boat but could not maintain as NZL and DEN came through them later. Rowing is an unforgiving sport in the second half of 2000m racing.
Austin Hack and the US men's eight hung with the pack through 500m but could not keep up with the medaling boats as they separated themselves. The US boat was in 4th, 4th, 5th, and 4th at the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, and finish positions. Though it was a repeat of the London 2012 US men's eight's finish, the London eight finished very close to the bronze; this quadrennial, the US eight found themselves out of the medals by about 2.7 seconds, a solid margin.
We're celebrating the W1x silver (to the credit of Gevvie Stone and the Boston Rowing Federation) and the W8+ gold (women's priority boat), but we'll later have to hold USRowing to task for failing to medal in the men's priority boat (M4-) and in the W2x and W4x. The LM2x did well to make their A-final, but theirs was not a USRowing camp boat, and USRowing gets no credit for their performance. Of note, the USRowing national team coaches all had their contracts renewed about a month before Rio. The men's team coaches are not exactly the tenured achievers that the women's team coaches are.
http://www.gostanford.com/news/2016/8/13...again.aspx
The women's eights final was a study in patience as the US allowed itself to sit in the pack while a couple of other boats jumped out for the lead. In the second half of the race, the US women maintained their pace (as did a couple of other boats who hadn't sold out for an early lead) while the leaders faltered, and then the US finally unleashed their fastest 500m split in the last 500m to seal the victory by open water. Tellingly, the CAN and NED boats who had been 1st and 2nd through the first half of the race finished 5th and 6th, respectively. (That's second-to-last and last.) GBR and ROU finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively, after being 5th and 6th at the halfway mark (respectively).
I think the inverse of that happened in Luczak's pairs race, where USA tried to keep pace with the world record-holders in the GBR boat but could not maintain as NZL and DEN came through them later. Rowing is an unforgiving sport in the second half of 2000m racing.
Austin Hack and the US men's eight hung with the pack through 500m but could not keep up with the medaling boats as they separated themselves. The US boat was in 4th, 4th, 5th, and 4th at the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, and finish positions. Though it was a repeat of the London 2012 US men's eight's finish, the London eight finished very close to the bronze; this quadrennial, the US eight found themselves out of the medals by about 2.7 seconds, a solid margin.
We're celebrating the W1x silver (to the credit of Gevvie Stone and the Boston Rowing Federation) and the W8+ gold (women's priority boat), but we'll later have to hold USRowing to task for failing to medal in the men's priority boat (M4-) and in the W2x and W4x. The LM2x did well to make their A-final, but theirs was not a USRowing camp boat, and USRowing gets no credit for their performance. Of note, the USRowing national team coaches all had their contracts renewed about a month before Rio. The men's team coaches are not exactly the tenured achievers that the women's team coaches are.