Rowing: Britain's golden girls stun Germans
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Your support makes all the difference.The British dealt the Germans a ferocious start to lead by a under a second after 500 metres. But gradually the Germans, in an adjacent lane with Kathrin Boron, eight times world champion and four times Olympic champion in the No 3 seat, turned the tables before halfway, pushing to half-a-length advantage. But after 1,400m Boron lost control of a scull for a split second. She recovered, but the wobble unsettled her boat.
Romero, the lookout in the bow seat of the British boat, caught that moment and saw opportunity before her. She screamed: "They've caught a crab, go!"
"The others had no idea it was only a little thing," Romero said, "but it was enough to have Germany knocked off their feet." Ten strokes later the British were leading, and 400m later Boron's career was at an end and Germany's 20-year domination of women's quad sculling was breached for only the third time in the history of the event.
British rowing stepped up all round in a weekend which saw the winning of four medals, including the men's coxless four's superb gold and the 19-year-old sculler Zac Purchase's gutsy silver on Saturday. Yesterday the women's lightweight quadruple scullers made the total four with a bronze.
The women's eight finished fifth, a length and a bit behind the winners, while the men's eight finished in fourth. The Americans won the event despite an injury to Matt Deakin, who moved to the No 2 seat.
Deakin was also among four men in the eight who raced Britain's Steve Williams, Peter Reed, Alex Partridge and Andy Hodge in the coxless fours on Saturday. The Americans were signalled as the main threat to a British victory, but they ended up as sleeping giant, leaving the Dutch to force the Brits to open their lungs before claiming victory.
Yesterday also saw good performances from crews in B finals for places seven to 12, including the men's quad who were disappointed at not being included in the top six. There was also gold for the mixed four in the adaptive events.
The next target is to put together a full team for next year's championships at Eton, and simultaneously advance towards qualification for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and find new talent for London in 2012.
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