(26 July 1996; Day 6)
The Australian Olympic rowers have had a strong showing in the competition so far, qualifying 10 of 13 boats for medal contention in Saturday and Sunday's finals. Forty of 45 Australian athletes will be in the hunt to bring home the gold and give them the opportunity to defend their Olympic titles in 2000 on their home course.
Head coach Reinhold BATSCHI credits the team's success to three factors: tough yet fair selection procedures, training, conditioning and coaching and the anticipation of hosting the Olympic Games.
"We are excited about having the 2000 Olympics in Sydney," said BATSCHI. "It is a great morale boost for all of us."
The success in coaching has also been a catalyst to the Australian's success, including Coach Harald JAHRLING who has had three of his crews qualify for the finals. JAHRLING coached rowers qualified for the finals in the men's lightweight double sculls, men's coxless pair and the women's lightweight double sculls.
The men's lightweight double sculls crew of Anthony EDWARDS and Bruce HICK raced one of the closest heats of the competition during their semifinal on Friday, finishing .10 seconds behind the world champion Swedish crew. David WEIGHTMAN and Robert SCOTT, the men's coxless pair, are favored for a medal in the finals after their first-place showing at the Lucerne Regatta in June. They will need to shutdown the powerful Great Britain boat of Steven REDGRAVE and Matthew PINSENT to walk away with the gold. The women's lightweight double sculls crew Rebecca JOYCE and Virginia LEE captured first in their semifinal heat defeating the 1995 World Champions Colleen MILLER and Wendy WIEBE of Canada who were eliminated from the medal finals.
"They rowed well, but they'll have to be clever to win on Sunday," said Coach JAHRLING of the lightweight twosome. "Many things need to come together to win at the Olympic Games. This boat has the will and the guts."
Other Australian boats seeking the gold medal this weekend will be the women's coxless pair, women's double sculls, men's coxless four, men's coxless four, men's quadruple sculls and both the Australian eight.
"There is a good feeling on the team," said BATSCHI. "It started when the women's eight qualified for the finals. Everyone is working together. We had the potential and now things are coming together."
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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