(BEIJING, August 16) – The final seven gold medals of the Olympic Rowing regatta will be awarded in Shunyi on Sunday, August 17 with the Lightweight Women's Double Sculls leading the way.
Lightweight Women's Double Sculls
Netherlands, Canada, China and Finland are expected to contest the Lightweight Women's Double Sculls Gold medal. The Dutch crew is a slight favorite after registering the fastest heat time on Sunday and by following it up with the fastest time of the semifinals. They had to work hard to overcome a pace-setting Finland in the semifinal, but their confidence will be boosted by the way they lifted over the last 350m.
Canada and Finland have both improved as the week has progressed while China has had a steady regatta and could be among the medals. Germany could surprise on the day while Greece may find the going too tough.
Lightweight Men's Double Sculls
Great Britain is the favorite in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls. They were the fastest of the four heat winners on Sunday and convincingly won their semifinal over Italy and Cuba on Friday. 2006 and 2007 world champions Denmark will start in the fifth lane after a less than perfect semifinal row, but the pair remain genuine gold medal contenders.
Greece won the second semifinal on Friday. The world championship silver medalists should be in the race for a medal while Italy, Cuba and China will need to find a turn of speed to book a place on the victory dais.
Lightweight Men's Four
Denmark will start the Lightweight Men's Four A-final as favorites after posting the fastest times of the heats and semifinals. The crew has done everything right this week, but will find its strongest gold medal opposition in Poland, Canada and France.
World champions Great Britain and Netherlands will start in the first and sixth lanes, respectively, but can't be discounted. Only three seconds separated the six qualifiers after the semifinal -- an indicator as to how close Sunday's gold medal contest will be.
Women's Quadruple Sculls
Great Britain's world champion Women's Quadruple Sculls crew will be out to make history on Sunday by being the first women's Rowing crew from that NOC to win an Olympic gold medal. Their form this week suggests they could do just that, but they will first need to overcome China, who posted the fastest qualifying time with their runaway six-second heat win over Ukraine.
Germany and the United States should be in the running for medals while Australia and Ukraine appear the least likely.
Men's Quadruple Sculls
With only two seconds separating the six starters after the semifinals, the Men's Quadruple Sculls final A is shaping up as one of the closest races of the regatta.
Poland has been the most consistent crew this week with a heat and semifinal win, but second semifinal winner Italy, Australia and the United States have never been far behind. It is a very open race and it wouldn't surprise if Germany and France also challenged from their outside lanes.
Women's Eight
Romania and the United States are equal favorites for the Women's Eight gold medal after storming into final A with impressive heat wins on Monday.
A win for Romania would secure their fourth Women's Eight Olympic title in a row and victory for the United States would avenge the silver medal won at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
A Romanian victory would also be the sixth career Olympic Gold medal for Georgeta Andrunache and the fifth for Viorica Susanu after their victory in Saturday's Women's Pair.
Canada and Netherlands seem the most likely gold medal hurdles to the two favorites while Great Britain and Australia have not been far off the pace all week and could medal.
Men's Eight
World champions Canada will be out to reverse a 35-year-old trend that has seen no current world champion Men's Eight collect Olympic Gold the following year. Their commanding seven second heat win over Poland on Monday would indicate they are just the crew to do it.
Great Britain delivered a similarly impressive four-second heat win over the United States and enter Sunday's race as co-favorites.
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