Pair of N.E. women golden

The U.S. women's eight won the Olympic gold medal in competition this afternoon at the Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park. They led from wire to wire, using a strong second 500m to build a 1.78 second lead at the halfway mark. Their final time of 6:05.34 was 1.88 seconds faster than the Netherlands, which had the fastest final 500m to surge from fourth place to claim the silver medal with a 6:07.22, edging out Romania by 0.03 seconds.

The U.S. boat was crewed by Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.), Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), Anna Goodale (Camden, Maine), Elle Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine), Anne Cummins (Bellevue, Wash.), Susan Francia (Abington, Pa.), Caroline Lind (Greensboro, N.C.), Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Mary Whipple (Sacramento, Calif.)