(28 July 1996; Day 9)
It is the defining nature of the Olympic Games. Athletes are called to moments of glory at times when others dictate "what should happen." At the 1996 Olympic rowing competition, Romania answered those calls to glory with the utmost enthusiasm and in their victorious wake, left the U.S. women with the lingering thoughts of "what if."
After the three-time world champion lightweight double sculls crew of Colleen MILLER and Wendy WIEBE (CAN) were eliminated from medal contention in the semifinals, the hunt for the gold medal became much more intense. The major pawns in the game were now the United States duo of Teresa BELL and Lindsay BURNS, who were hoping to give the U.S. women their first gold in rowing competition since 1984. But never underestimate the power of the Olympic Games.
Romania's lightweight double sculls crew of Constanta BURCICA and Camelia MACOVICIUC jumped to a quick lead in the final race and never looked back as they powered their way to an Olympic gold medal, a standard of excellence the Romanian women and the world would witness again from this country.
"For this particular race, we set out to win the silver or the gold this morning," said BURCICA. "Fortunately we won the gold medal."
However, it was not the last time the Romanians experienced great fortune. In a scene all too familiar to the United States, the Americans held the "favored" label heading into the women's eight but again fell victim to the women of Romania. The eight crew clocked a time of 6:19.73 to win by 4.32 over the silver-medalist Canada, while the Bulgarians took the bronze. The U.S. women's eight were forced to settle for a disappointing fourth place.
"We knew all of the medalists would be fast, but we were surprised we weren't faster. Everyone pulled their guts out and that's all we could do," said the United States' Catriona FALLON. "The eight is the strongest, most inspirational group of people I know. I am sorry we couldn't pull it together because all these girls deserve medals."
The Romanian eight placed second to the United States at the 1995 World Championships and had the top performance at Duisburg earlier this year. In these Olympic Games, Romania qualified two boats for the medal finals and were awarded two gold medals.
The women's lightweight double sculls qualified for the Olympic Games at the Lucerne Regatta in June, and became the first Olympic gold medalists to gain entry into the competition via the qualifying regatta. Most boats earn an Olympic spot through the world championships. The Romanian twosome wrote two chapters in the Olympic history book as they also became the first women's lightweight Olympic gold medalists. The lightweight events were part of the rowing format for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games.
"When you're the world champion and you win the gold medal it doesn't matter if you're a lightweight or an open," said BURCICA. "You're the best in the world, a champion."
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Sports Publications Department. Written by M. Lynne Bragg.
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| More tickets were sold to the competitions of the 1996 Games than to any other Olympic Games or sports event in history. The 8.6 million ticket sales figures topped sales to the Los Angeles and Barcelona Games combined. |