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Cavalier Rowing Olympic Update
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Aug. 6, 2016
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil–The Cavaliers will have five rowers competing at the Rio Olympics. This page will be updated as the action concludes each day.
Saturday, August 13
Susanne Grainger (’13) and Christine Roper (’11) were part of the Canadian eight that placed fifth in the women’s eight final.
Friday, August 12
Matt Miller (’11) and the U.S. men’s four won the B final to finish seventh overall.
Thursday, August 11
Inge Janssen (’10) earned silver with the Dutch quadruple sculls. For a full recap, click here.
Meghan O’Leary (’08) and U.S. teammate Ellen Tomek placed sixth in the women’s double sculls final. It was O’Leary’s first Olympic appearance. The duo were coached by UVA head coach Kevin Sauer.
In the women’s eight repechage, the Canadian crew which featured Susanne Grainger (’13) and Christine Roper (’11) finished first in a time of 6:28.07, over four seconds over second-place Romania, to qualify for Saturday’s final.
Matt Miller (’11) and the U.S. men’s four finished fourth in the semifinals and will move on to the B final on Friday.
Tuesday, August 9
Meghan O’Leary (’08) and teammate Ellen Tomek in the U.S. double sculls just beat out world champion New Zealand for the third and final qualifying place in Tuesday’s semifinals. The Americans finished in a time of 6:52.92, just 0.05 ahead of the Kiwis. The final is Thursday morning at 9:04 a.m. ET. The Americans are coached by UVA head coach Kevin Sauer.
Monday, August 8
After action on Sunday was postponed due to heavy winds, Monday saw a full day of races.
Inge Janssen (’10) and the Netherlands’ women’s quadruple sculls won the repechage in 6:24.61 to advance to Wednesday’s final.
Meghan O’Leary (’08) and U.S. teammate Ellen Tomek finished second in the repchage of the women’s double sculls to move on to Tuesday’s semifinals. The duo’s time was 7:00.60.
The Canadian women’s eight, featuring Susanne Grainger (’13) and Christine Roper (’11), placed third in a tighly contested heat and will row in the repechage on Wednesday.
Matt Miller (’11) and the U.S. men’s four placed third to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.
Saturday, August 6
Meghan O’Leary (’08) and U.S. teammate Ellen Tomek fought crazy rough water and finished fourth in heat two of the women’s double sculls in 7:46.92. The duo will next compete in the repechage on Sunday (Aug. 7) at 8:40 a.m. For a full USRowing recap of the day, click here.
“We had a great first 500,” O’Leary told USRowing. “Had a really solid start. We were right there with Poland. As you could tell, the water was pretty ferocious and we caught a couple of bad diggers that just stopped our boat.”
“And once you get stopped in that water out there, it’s really hard to gain traction and pick the boat back up. It was an unfortunate happening of events. The worst that could have happened, happened, in terms of fighting water like that. We’re not going to let it pull us down, obviously. It was pretty crazy water, probably the worst I’ve seen, but you just gotta fight through it and hopefully tomorrow, we can put a better full race together.”
Inge Janssen (’10) and the Netherlands women’s quadruple sculls placed third in heat one in 6:38.58. She will next compete repechage on Monday (Aug. 8) at 9:10 a.m.