US women's eight shows world it's a golden crew

US coxswain Mary Whipple kisses her medals as Caroline Lind, left, looks on after they won the gold medal in the women's eight final. (AP Photo)

BEIJING - They'd seen the video of how the 1984 crew had done it in Los Angeles, slugging it out with the Romanians all the way down the course and winning the gold medal. "They wanted to welcome us to their club," said Caroline Lind. "So we had to step up."

And so the United States women's eight did on a cool and cloudy day, going wire to wire in a dominating effort yesterday to win their first Olympic gold in 24 years and break Romania's 12-year stranglehold on the title.

"We rowed a boat called 'The Hunter,' " observed Anna Cummins, after she and her boatmates had beaten the onrushing Dutch and the fading Romanians by nearly two seconds in 6:05.34 on the course at Shunyi Park. "We hunted everyone all the way down."

Taken with a bronze medal from the men's eight, which came storming out of last place, and Saturday's silver by sculler Michelle Guerette, it made for a fine weekend for the American flotilla, which had hoped for three podium finishes and got them all.

Four years ago in Athens, the men had won gold for the first time in 40 years, while the women had taken silver behind the Romanians. While the US came in as two-time defending world champions, the Romanians still were what coach Tom Terhaar called historic favorites. This time, though, the Americans sensed that it finally would be their day. "No fear," said Terhaar. "They came down smiling to the boathouse, which is a good sign."

Then the US socked it to everybody in sight, grabbing the lead in the first few strokes and going wire to wire. No matter what happened, the Americans were determined to leave nothing to chance. "No regrets, no regrets, no regrets," said Cummins.

By 750 meters, their lead was half a length and growing, but the Romanians still were within striking distance and preparing to make their move. "I made a call for the 1984 girls and said that we've got to do them proud," said cox Mary Whipple. "We just motored to the finish line."

Nobody on the lake with anything less than an Evinrude was going to catch the Americans down the stretch. Their cushion over the Netherlands was comfortable. "Six seats, seven seats," reckoned Terhaar. "A lot. Plenty. Enough."

The margin didn't matter. What was important was overthrowing the Romanian dynasty, collecting the gold that came with it and joining Kathy Keeler, Carie Graves, and the rest of the Class of '84 in their exclusive American club. "We were really aware of the women who came before us," said Harvard grad Caryn Davies, who stroked the boat. "We used them as our inspiration. We dedicated this race to them."

The US males, who'd been spanked in the heats by the British and had to make the final out of the repechage, were happy to make the medal stand at all after missing it at last year's world regatta in Munich. "After Monday, any spot on the podium we were pretty grateful for," said coach Mike Teti.

This, finally, was Canada's day after 16 years without a men's medal in the event. The Maple Leaf brotherhood had gone to Athens favored for gold after winning the previous two world titles and ended up a flogged fifth. Ever since, that harrowing morning had gnawed at them. This time, with four returnees plus Harvard grad Malcolm Howard aboard, the Canadians went end to end, beating the British by more than a second in 5:23.89.

"We wanted to prove that we are a great crew and we did that," said Ben Rutledge, after his mates became the first reigning world champs since East Germany in 1980 to win Olympic gold. The Americans, who made the podium at consecutive Games for the first time since 1988 when Teti pulled an oar, wanted to prove that they still belonged in the world's fastest company.

It took the Yanks, who were sixth at 500 meters, a while to get up to speed but once they did, they sawed relentlessly through the Australians, Poles, and Dutch and were closing on the British during the final sprint, missing the silver by less than a quarter of a second. "Great Britain just had that last bit of gear," said cox Marcus McElhenney.

For the other medalists, this was a day of redemption for what didn't happen in Athens, when the Canadians came in as global titlists and the British as defending champions and both came away with nothing. The Americans, who'd made their golden breakthrough there after four decades, were content just to see their flag going up the pole again. "Compared to Athens?" mused stroke Bryan Volpenhein. "It's close."