Eton Dorney, 2012: Final Olympic Medal Standings in Rowing

Great Britain 4-2-3
New Zealand 3-0-2
Germany 2-1-0

Denmark 1-1-1
Czech Republic 1-1-0
United States 1-0-2

Ukraine 1-0-0
South Africa 1-0-0

Australia 0-3-2
Canada 0-2-0

China 0-1-0
Croatia 0-1-0
France 0-1-0
Italy 0-1-0

Greece 0-0-1
Poland 0-0-1
Netherlands 0-0-1
Slovenia 0-0-1

(To check predictions for Olympic rowing finals, please click here.)

U.S. Newspaper's Olympic Medal Predictions: Only Two Nations Due to Retain Their Rowing Titles from Beijing

The American daily USA Today has been putting together projections of the expected results of each sport event at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. With the latest updated version released 11 June 2012, it comes out that Eton Dorney regatta venue may witness significant changes when compared to Beijing 2008. According to USA Today's expectations, only two countries will be able to retain their Olympic rowing titles: the host country, Great Britain, in men's four, and the United States in women's eight, respectively.

Fast-motion video of a new bridge construction at Eton Dorney Lake, the venue of rowing and canoeing events in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games

A total of 20 countries are likely to be represented in the Olympic rowing A-finals, and out of these, 16 national teams should earn medals. The following medal table prediction can thus be summarised (with details on each boat event following further below):

Great Britain 3-5-2
New Zealand 3-2-1
Germany 3-1-0
Greece 1-1-1
Czech Republic 1-1-0
United States 1-0-1
Croatia 1-0-0
Belarus 1-0-0
Australia 0-1-3
Canada 0-1-2
Denmark 0-1-0
Ukraine 0-1-0
France 0-0-1
Italy 0-0-1
Poland 0-0-1
Romania 0-0-1

Rowing Medal Predictions for London 2012

(First released by the U.S. daily USA Today on 7 March 2011. Below is a summary of the most recent update of 3 February 2012. UPDATE: For the latest version of Olympic result predictions, please click here.)

Men's double sculls (M2x)

New Zealand, Germany, France

Women's double sculls (W2x)

Great Britain, Australia, Poland

Men's eights (M8+)

Germany, Great Britain, Canada

Women's eights (W8+)

United States, Canada, Romania

Men's coxless fours (M4-)

Great Britain, Greece, Australia

Lightweight men's double sculls (LM2x)

New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy

Lightweight women's double sculls (LW2x)

Greece, Canada, Great Britain

Dorney Lake near Eton, the venue of the 2012 Olympic regatta. Source: Doc Searls, Flickr / Wikipedia.

Čtyři evropské medaile pro české veslaře

ENGLISH TITLE: Four European Medals Go to Czech Rowers

Skifařka Mirka Knapková dnes na veslařském mistrovství Evropy v bulharském Plovdivu s přehledem vyhrála finále. Po letošním titulu mistryně světa tak získává i evropské prvenství.

Osma mužů (Jiří Srna – Kornel Altman – David Szabó – Jan Pilc – Jakub Podrazil – Jakub Koloc – Petr Melichar – Matyáš Klang – kormidelník Martin Šuma) vybojovala stříbrnou medaili. Rychlejší byla jen polská sestava, která patří mezi světovou špičku.

Také čtyřka mužů lehkých vah ve složení Jan Vetešník – Ondřej Vetešník – Jiří Kopáč – Miroslav Vraštil získala stříbrnou medaili. Po prvních 500 metrech z dvoukilometrové trati česká loď vedla, ale pak ji předstihla posádka Itálie.

V dopoledním programu si ženský dvojskif ve složení Lenka Antošová – Jitka Antošová dovesloval pro bronzovou medaili. Ve finále zaostal pouze za posádkami Ukrajiny a Srbska.

Největším úspěchem hostitelské země bylo 6. místo ženské dvojky Kristina Bončeva – Luiza-Marija Rusinova. Skifař Georgi Božilov, který je vicemistrem světa do 23 let, se na domácí vodě překvapivě nedostal do finále a skončil celkově 7.

Výsledky dalších českých posádek:

párová čtyřka mužů (Petr Buzrla – Martin Basl – Jan Andrle – David Jirka): 6. místo

dvojskif žen lehkých vah (Klára Janáková – Markéta Pazderková): 7. místo

dvojskif mužů lehkých vah (Petr Čabla – Milan Viktora): 12. místo

Czechs, Poles Head for Karapiro

The teams of the Czech Republic and Poland set for Karapiro, New Zealand, the scene of this year's World Rowing Championships. Four Czech and three Polish boats are going to fight for medals.

Czech rowing will be represented in men's and women's categories by singles and doubles. The Poles are sending women's doubles (standard and lightweight) and men's eight. The nominations have been announced on the websites of the national rowing bodies of both countries.

The Polish team left Warsaw on 14 October as confirmed on the personal website of Magdalena Kemnitz who rows in the bow seat of lightweight women's double.

According to the Czech Rowing Association website, the Czech rowers will fly from Prague on 16 October evening. They will join their team fellow Mirka Knapková, the women's single sculler who has already been in New Zealand since late September. Knapková was the first athlete to arrive at the World Championships venue, the websites of the FISA and the Czech Rowing Association have reported.

First Full-Fledged European Championships... Finally

The upcoming European Rowing Championships in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal are due to be much different from the previous years: for the first time since the championships were restored in 2007, Europeans get the opportunity to compete in all rowing events (not just the fourteen Olympic ones) and, unlike the past years again, most of the European rowing elite will really be present.

Rowing is a part of Europe's history. Source: Wikipedia.

The new history of the European Rowing Championships is problematic: the regatta was always held after the World Championships or Olympic Games and thus remained overshadowed by the real peak of the season. Many of the best European rowers did not bother to come – either because they already wanted to relax, or because they knew their main rivals would also stay home, or because they had anyway accomplished success on the world level for that season (European countries won 57% of rowing events at the 2008 Olympics and 70% of all events at the 2009 World Championships). Take Great Britain, one of the superpowers of rowing: two years ago, they sent seven boats to the European championships; last year, there was only one British boat.

In their current shape, the European Rowing Championships have largely become a regatta for: 1) reserve crews, 2) hopeful juniors, 3) experimental lineups, and 4) consolation prize seekers, i.e. those who might not be satisfied with their performance in the preceding World Championships or Olympic Games (see below for examples).

Polish Quad Lineup Changed Indeed – But for Medical Reasons

As I wrote three days ago, lineup changes were expected in the Polish men’s quadruple scull that had dominated this boat category since 2005 but stayed behind its standard in this year’s World Cup races. Now, with the World Cup finals in Lucerne, Switzerland, the 24-year-old Piotr Licznerski entered the golden crew as some Polish media had predicted. But the man replaced by Licznerski was the least expected one: the 36-year-old stroke Adam Korol. Yet there is no reason for sensation: Korol is temporarily out due to surgery.

Changes Likely in Golden Quad, Polish Media Suggest

Poland can boast an unusual rowing crew: men's quadruple scull that won all top events (world championships and the Olympic Games) between 2005 and 2009, moreover in an unchanged lineup. In 2006 and 2007, they were unbeaten in all World Cup regattas. But 2010 seems to be a different season for the bow Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowicz (both of Szczecin), Michał Jeliński (of Gorzów), and the stroke Adam Korol (of Gdańsk): not only have the “Dominators” (as the Polish media call them) announced they would not go to the world championships in New Zealand this year (“from our point of view, it will be simply too late”, the Sports.pl website quoted on 16 March Marek Kolbowicz as saying); but, they seem to be going through an unprecedented performance crisis now. In the two World Cup events held so far this year, they finished third in Bled and sixth in Munich, respectively.

Světový pohár v Mnichově: česká radost, vzestup Číny, pád Polska

ENGLISH TITLE: World Cup in Munich: Czech Joy, Rise of China, Fall of Poland

Mnichov pravidelně hostí druhý díl veslařského Světového poháru před jeho tradičním finále v Lucernu. V Mnichově už na rozdíl od prvního závodu Světového poháru (kam spousta posádek nejezdí) bývá nabitá konkurence.

Oberschleissheim severně od Mnichova, místo konání mezinárodních veslařských soutěží. Závodní kanál je vidět západně od obce. Zdroj: Google Maps.

Osobní výběr zajímavých momentů z Mnichova:

Skif mužů lehkých vah: Slovák Babač minule (ve slovinském Bledu) čtvrtý, v Mnichově až jedenáctý. Podobně Brazilec da Silva (loňský vicemistr světa v kategorii do 23 let) byl ve Slovinsku těsně před Babačem bronzový, nyní těsně za ním dvanáctý. Toto vše možná jen ilustruje zmíněné obohacení konkurence v Mnichově, kde startovalo 26 skifařů lehkých vah (v Bledu to bylo 13).