Johnson Nabs Olympics Silver with U.S. Women's Eight
8/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Rowing, Olympics
SCHINIAS, Greece -- U-M women's rowing alumna Kate Johnson (1998-2001) aided the United States women's eight in its capture of the silver medal in the Olympic final on Sunday (Aug. 23). Romania, which the U.S. edged in preliminary racing, earned the gold medal, while the Netherlands took the bronze.
The U.S. women's eight earned its first Olympic medal since its gold-medal performance in 1984 in Los Angeles. Johnson is the first graduate from the U-M women's rowing program to attain an Olympic medal.
Through the first 500 meters of the race the Americans and Romanians were head to head just as they were during the preliminaries with the U.S. holding a miniscule lead. At 1,000 meters Johnson and company held the advantage by barely a bowball. In the second half of the race though, two-time defending Olympic champion Romania surged into first place and led the U.S. by a few seats with 500 meters remaining. The Romanians went on to take the gold medal in a time of 6:17.70. The Americans wound up taking second in 6:19.56, but only after holding off a strong come-from-behind effort by the Netherlands, which was third by just 0.29.
In other rowing action, men's club rowing team alumnus Steve Warner and his lightweight-four boat placed third in the "B" Final on Saturday (Aug. 21) in Athens, finishing with a time of 6:22.24. With a time of 4:48.69 through the first 1,500 meters, Warner's boat was sixth out of six boats going into the final stretch of the race. A strong finish, however, helped the U.S. lightweight four boat jump ahead three spots for a third-place finish, just 0.61 seconds ahead of the fourth-place crew from Austria.
Serbia & Montenegro grabbed first with a time of 6:19.00, while the Russians posted a time of 6:20.64 for a second-place finish.
RESULTS
Women's Eight (Aug. 22) A Final 1. Romania 6:17.70 -- gold medal 2. USA 6:19.56 -- silver medal 3. Netherlands 6:19.85 -- bronze medal 4. China 6:21.71 5. Germany 6:21.99 6. Australia 6:31.65
