U.S. women take Olympic gold in rowing

The U.S. women’s eight won the gold medal for the first time since 1984 and the men's eight rowed to a bronze Sunday, the final day of the rowing competition at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing/Canoeing Park.

The women’s eight of coxswain Mary Whipple (Sacramento), Caryn Davies, Caroline Lind, Susan Francia, Anna Cummins, Eleanor Logan, Anna Goodale, Lindsay Shoop and Erin Cafaro (Modesto) led the race from the start, finishing at 6:05.34 to defeat the Netherlands by 1.88 seconds. Defending Olympic champion Romania finished third in 6:07.25.

“Obviously, we wanted to be ahead,” Cafaro told U.S. Rowing. “We got faster every 500 meters, or at least it felt like that to us.”

The U.S. women steadily built their lead to win the country's first gold medal in the event since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

“Before we left Princeton, we gathered and watched that 1984 race,” Whipple said. “I made the call halfway through the race saying that it was just like 1984 and that we couldn’t let them down. Then we just motored ahead.”

The men’s eight of coxswain Marcus McElhenney, Bryan Volpenhein, Josh Inman, Steven Coppola, Dan Walsh, Wyatt Allen, Micah Boyd, Matt Schnobrich and Beau Hoopman missed the silver medal by 0.23 seconds.

Canada led the race from start to finish, winning with 5:23.89. Great Britain took second in 5:25.11, followed by the U.S. in 5:25.34.

“I’m really happy,” Volpenhein said. “I was really excited to get out there today. I’m not disappointed with bronze. It’s always good to come away with a medal.”

The women’s quadruple sculls crew finished fifth. China took gold, Great Britian silver and Germany bronze. The men’s quadruple sculls crew also finished fifth. Poland won gold, Italy silver and France bronze.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Gold medalists Elle Logan, left, Anna Goodale, Lindsay Shoop and Erin Cafaro celebrate their victory after the women's eight rowing final at the Beijing Games on Sunday. Credit: Nic Bothma/EPA

U.S. rowers racing in Beijing

Five U.S. rowing crews will race in repechages (second-chance races) on Tuesday, the fourth day of rowing competition at Beijing's Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.

The Beijing Games rowing venue is hosting 548 rowers competing in 207 crews for 60 nations. Racing runs through Aug. 17, with finals on Aug. 16-17. Racing results and the upcoming schedule are available on the official Games website.

Iraq's Olympic team arrives in Beijing

Other teams have traveled farther, but few would seem to have had as difficult a journey to Beijing as the Iraqi Olympic delegation.

The small contingent arrived in China early on Tuesday and was greeted at Beijing's airport by Iraqi ambassador to China, Mohammad Sabir Ismail, who said: "It’s very important for us to be here.”

The IOC in May suspended Iraq citing illegal government intervention in Olympic matters. The decision was reversed late last week, clearing the way for two rowers and two track and field athletes to compete.

“I’m so happy I am here now,” rower Haidar Nozad told the Associated Press. “I am so excited. It is my dream.”

The other competitors are rower Hamzah Hussein Jebur, discus thrower Haider Nasir and sprinter Dana Hussein, the only woman among the four.

The athletes previously acknowledged that they will be hard-pressed to win medals given the difficulties of training at home. Iraq has one bronze medal since its first appearance at the Summer Games in 1948.

Photo: Haider Nasir of the Iraqi national team arrives at the Beijing airport early on Tuesday. Credit: Petr David Josek / Associated Press

Row, row, row your Olympic boat

Rowing continues to be dominated by East Coast athletes, but several Californians -- and out-of-towners who've been training in the Golden State -- are among 45 rowers who will compete in the Beijing Games next month.

USRowing, which is based in Princeton, N.J., is sending 13 boats to the Summer Games.

Californians on the Beijing-bound rowing team include Scott Gault (Piedmont) in the men's quadruple sculls; Mike Altman (Marin County) in the lightweight men's fours; and Mary Whipple (Sacramento) and Erin Cafaro (Modesto) in the women's eight. Warren Anderson (Paso Robles), Rachel Jeffers (Los Gatos), Julie Nichols (Livermore) and Brett Sickler (Los Gatos) were named as alternates.

Gault has been training at the California Rowing Club, which is based at the historic Ky Ebright Boathouse in the T. Gary Rogers Rowing Center on the shore of the Oakland Estuary. The boathouse that was built in 1925 recently was refurbished.

Massachusetts residents Elliot Hovey and Wes Piermarini have been living in the Bay Area and training at the California Rowing Club for more than a year. The effort paid off for the pair on July 6, when they won the Double Sculls Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta, the oldest continually held rowing event in the world. (Donny Simkin, a rower from Northridge, also competed in the double sculls.)

"The quality of competitors, the tradition and the throngs of rowing enthusiasts make the Henley Royal Regatta unique in the world," said Rich Hallock, executive director of the California Rowing Club. "The CRC’s debut at Henley is successful and the experience is good for our athletes as they prepare for the World Championships and the Olympic Games in the coming weeks."

If you don't know very much about rowing, you're not alone; rowers don't practice under the bright lights.

"They're padding down the dock at 6:30 in the morning, they row into the fog on the Oakland Estuary, and don't come back until about 8:30 a.m., when everyone else is heading off to work," Hallock said. "They're about as low-profile as you could be."

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Elliot Hovey in bow, Wes Piermarini in stern earlier this year on the Oakland Estuary. Credit: California Rowing Club