MEDALS COLLECTED IN REDGRAVE'S WAKE
While Steven Redgrave dominated the day's rowing and British attention also focused on Greg Searle and Ed Cooke's near miss in the coxless fours, another five rowing titles were up for grabs on the lake. And of those, the biggest success stories were the men's singles sculls, where New Zealand took its first gold of the games, and the men's double sculls, in which Slovenia won its first ever gold.
Belarus, Germany, and Romania also took golds, with Belarus’ Ekaterina Karsten successfully defending her Atlanta gold in the women’s single sculls - winning by one one-hundredth of a second in the first race of the day.
For New Zealand’s Rob Waddell his gold in the men’s single sculls was a validation of the effort that has taken him to the top of his sport, saying the gold topped his two world championships and his world record.
"This is something else. It really proves that the last two years have been credible. I think if I’d come second today, you might have thought well these other guys were holding something up there sleeve all that time," he says.
The lack of medals for New Zealand - Mark Todd’s bronze on Friday in the three day equestrian event was their first of the games - had become a concern back home, but Waddell said he tried not to worry about it.
"You’ve got to put that out of your mind otherwise it really does weigh you down," the 25 year old said.
Waddell’s wife Sonia competed in the final before his, finishing out of the places in the women’s single sculls. While Waddell was sure of her position, it was a fifteen minute wait before the winner was declared.
Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, the reigning Olympic and world champion, edged Bulgarian Rumyana Neyokova by just 0.01 second, having trailed by over one second 500 metres from the finish and Luka Spik and Iztok Cop won gold for Slovenia when they led all the way in the men’s double sculls, finishing over a second in front of Norway.
The high hopes of Australia to better their Atlanta haul of two golds and six medals overall were disappointed on Saturday. Australia contested five of the seven finals, finishing with a silver and two bronze.
PETER WATTS
Sunday Times
