WINDSOR, England (AP) — It’s not often that the final of the blue-ribbon men’s eight gets overshadowed at an Olympic rowing regatta.
Yet that’s exactly what could happen Wednesday if Britain’s agonizing wait for a first gold medal at its home games ends on the rippling waters of Dorney Lake.
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are strong favorites to win the women’s pair, which is the first of the 14 finals at the regatta over the next four days.
That race will finish around 30 minutes before the men’s eight final begins. If Glover and Stanning win — and all signs are pointing to that outcome — the celebrations in the giant grandstands lining the final 300 meters of the course will still be in full flow by the time the eights are launched from their starting blocks.
There is another final in between, the women’s quadruple sculls, but that should very much play third fiddle on a day when rain that arrived Tuesday in Windsor for the first time since the start of the regatta is forecast to hold off.
The British pair are unbeaten in 2012, which is an unlikely turn of events considering they were spares for the country’s eight only two years ago.
A win for Glover and Stanning would be special for another reason, too — it would be the first ever gold won by a female British boat after years being upstaged by the powerhouse men’s crews.
“I don’t want to put excessive pressure on the pair just because of where they are in the timetable but it is really, really important,” said David Tanner, British Rowing’s high performance director. “It would be huge. If they can do it, it would be fabulous and have a huge impact.
“We’ve certainly never had a boat with such a good pedigree in the first race of an Olympics final day.”
Stanning and Glover haven’t raced since the very first heat of the regatta, which they won in convincing style from Sara Hendershot and Sarah Zelenka of the United States.
It looks like a fight between the U.S. and the Australians Kate Hornsey and Sarah Tait for the remaining medals, although both boats will be hoping to take advantage if the Brits are struck by stage fright.
The men’s eight is the final race of the day and could also be a one-horse race, if results over the last three years are anything to go by. Since 2009, Germany hasn’t lost a race.
The U.S. has traditionally been the main power in the eight but they’ve had their problems in the past year, failing to qualify directly for the Olympics for the first time in history. Only winning a final qualifying regatta in Lucerne in May enabled them to squeeze through.
The Americans were winners of the second heat Saturday and are rejuvenated under returning coach Mike Teti, but face fierce competition from defending champion Canada, Australia and Britain, which came within a half length of the victorious Germans in the first heat.
“They had an easy heat and have not raced at a World Cup event (this year),” Germany coach Ralf Holtmeyer said of the U.S. “It’s a new crew, an unknown force. They’re good but Great Britain is our biggest opponent.”
Britain’s eight contains two rowers at the opposite ends of the age spectrum. Constantine Louloudis is 20 years old but such is the promise he is showing at such a young age that he is stroking the boat, a position of immense responsibility. Then there is the 40-year-old Greg Searle, who won Olympic gold in the coxed pair with brother Johnny 20 years ago in Barcelona.
Teti is convinced the seemingly invincible Germans can be beaten.
“I don’t think it’s scary,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to race against the best crew in the world, that’s all you can ask for. (But) if we want to get on podium, we are going to have to really go to another level.”
The women’s quad sculls should be a straight fight between heat winners Ukraine, which won all three World Cup regattas this year, and world champion Germany. China defends the title and the U.S. was the third quickest in qualifying.
