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WINDSOR, ENGLAND—In the end, the German juggernaut could not be toppled.
Canada’s men’s rowing eight won Olympic silver Wednesday, finishing a 1.23 seconds behind a dominating German boat that won gold by extending an undefeated streak that goes back to 2009.
Competing in front of an estimated crowd of about 30,000 that included princes William and Harry, Canada sat in third place for most of the race behind the front-running Germans and second-place British. By the 1,500-metre mark of the 2,000-metre Eton Dorney course, the British had closed the gap to 0.6 seconds while Canada trailed the leaders by 1.6 seconds.
But Canada made a late charge to pass the Brits and earn a silver medal with a relatively inexperienced crew that included just two oar-pulling members of the country’s 2008 gold medalists at the Beijing Olympics.
Canada began these Games with an alarmingly poor performance, finishing fourth in their four-boat heat. Brian Price, the coxswain who hails from Belleville but lives near the eight’s training base on Victoria’s Elk Lake, said that effort conjured memories of 2004, when the Canadian eight came into the Olympics as two-time defending world champions and finished fifth.
Still, that Canadian collapse was hardly unprecedented in the history of eights rowing. The sport is littered with stories of heavy favourites that came undone under the pressure of a gold-medal race.
“One thing you know (about the Olympic final) — crews are going to underperform,” Oliver Siegelaar, a member of the Dutch eight, had said in the lead-up to the race.
The Germans turned that theory on its head by staying unbeatable in the wake of Beijing. Along with winning three consecutive world championships, the German crew has all nine of the World Cup events they have entered.
In Canada’s most recent meeting with the Germans before Wednesday, the Maple Leaf boat has finished third at the Lucerne World Cup, nearly a second behind second-place Britain and more than two seconds behind Germany.
Canada’s octet, coxed by Price and coached by Mike Spracklen, included 2008 gold medalists Andrew Byrnes from Toronto and Malcolm Howard of Victoria. Also aboard were relative newcomers Will Crothers and Rob Gibson of Kingston, Cobourg’s Jeremiah Brown, Oakville’s Doug Csima, Brockville’s Conlin McCabe and Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C.
Earlier in the day Canada’s men’s pair of Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen advanced to Friday’s gold-medal final by finishing third in their semifinal.
“It wasn’t necessarily our best performance, but we certainly couldn’t be racing for a medal if we didn’t come top-three today,” Calder said. “Now we need to focus on what it’s going to take to get in the medals.”
Canada’s men’s rowing eight won Olympic silver Wednesday, finishing a 1.23 seconds behind a dominating German boat that won gold by extending an undefeated streak that goes back to 2009.
Competing in front of an estimated crowd of about 30,000 that included princes William and Harry, Canada sat in third place for most of the race behind the front-running Germans and second-place British. By the 1,500-metre mark of the 2,000-metre Eton Dorney course, the British had closed the gap to 0.6 seconds while Canada trailed the leaders by 1.6 seconds.
But Canada made a late charge to pass the Brits and earn a silver medal with a relatively inexperienced crew that included just two oar-pulling members of the country’s 2008 gold medalists at the Beijing Olympics.
Canada began these Games with an alarmingly poor performance, finishing fourth in their four-boat heat. Brian Price, the coxswain who hails from Belleville but lives near the eight’s training base on Victoria’s Elk Lake, said that effort conjured memories of 2004, when the Canadian eight came into the Olympics as two-time defending world champions and finished fifth.
Still, that Canadian collapse was hardly unprecedented in the history of eights rowing. The sport is littered with stories of heavy favourites that came undone under the pressure of a gold-medal race.
“One thing you know (about the Olympic final) — crews are going to underperform,” Oliver Siegelaar, a member of the Dutch eight, had said in the lead-up to the race.
The Germans turned that theory on its head by staying unbeatable in the wake of Beijing. Along with winning three consecutive world championships, the German crew has all nine of the World Cup events they have entered.
In Canada’s most recent meeting with the Germans before Wednesday, the Maple Leaf boat has finished third at the Lucerne World Cup, nearly a second behind second-place Britain and more than two seconds behind Germany.
Canada’s octet, coxed by Price and coached by Mike Spracklen, included 2008 gold medalists Andrew Byrnes from Toronto and Malcolm Howard of Victoria. Also aboard were relative newcomers Will Crothers and Rob Gibson of Kingston, Cobourg’s Jeremiah Brown, Oakville’s Doug Csima, Brockville’s Conlin McCabe and Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House, B.C.
Earlier in the day Canada’s men’s pair of Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen advanced to Friday’s gold-medal final by finishing third in their semifinal.
“It wasn’t necessarily our best performance, but we certainly couldn’t be racing for a medal if we didn’t come top-three today,” Calder said. “Now we need to focus on what it’s going to take to get in the medals.”
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