Romania owned this event at
the past three Olympic Games.
In Beijing, two-time World
Champions the USA won their
heat, as did reigning Olympic
Champions Romania. But the
USA dominated the Final from
start to finish, with gold going
to crewmembers Erin Cafaro
(b), Lindsay Shoop,
Anna Goodale,
Eleanor Logan,
Anna Cummins,
Zsuzsanna Francia,
Caroline Lind,
Caryn Davies (s) and
Mary Whipple (c).
Romania took bronze,
the Netherlands silver.
© 2008 Getty Images
Zac Purchase (r) and Mark Hunter dominated the
lightweight men’s double sculls during the 2008 Rowing
World Cup series and went on to win Great Britain’s second
Olympic gold medal in rowing in Beijing.
lM2x
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© 2008 Getty Images
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Canada broke the curse that seemed to limit the performance of reigning World Champions in the
men’s eight at the Olympic Games. Kevin Light (b), Ben Rutledge, Andrew Byrnes, Jake Wetzel,
Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Adam Kreek, Kyle Hamilton (s) and Brian Price (c) secured
Olympic gold after winning World Championship gold in 2007.
Bulgaria’s Rumyana Neykova
had been waiting for this
moment ever since she first
won silver at the 2000 Sydney
Games. In 2004, she won Olympic
bronze. In Beijing, Neykova got the
better of archrival and two-time
Olympic Champion Ekaterina
Karsten, winning her long-awaited
Olympic gold medal.
