Wednesday July 28, 2021
Burglary in the last few meters
Women’s double fours only fifth
The women’s quadruple rowing scull takes the lead with ease, but in the final the Germans run out of breath prematurely. It looked good at the beginning of the race. China is bringing gold safely.
The women’s double foursome clearly missed the hoped-for first rowing medal for Germany after a severe drop in performance in the last part of the race. The boat around the three Olympic newbies Frieda Hämmerling (Kiel), Franziska Kampmann (Waltrop) and Carlotta Nwajide (Hanover) as well as Daniela Schultze (Potsdam) had to be content with fifth place at the Olympic Games on Wednesday. Five years ago there was still gold for Germany in the boat class, but none of the current line-up was there in Rio de Janeiro.
China secured the Olympic gold medal ahead of Poland and Australia. In the last few meters, Italy was just ahead of the Germans, who were 8.28 seconds behind the Chinese. Little hinted at this result, because the quartet had not been at all nervous about the Olympics before. In the run-up, there was a sovereign victory and the direct entry into the final for the four women, of whom only Schultze was a member of the eighth in 2012 in London at the Olympic Games.
In April the boat won bronze at the European Championship, now the disappointment followed. Behind the strong Chinese women, who showed no weakness on the two-kilometer route and set an Olympic record, the German boat was in a good position in second place for a long time. The last 500 meters, however, were torture. The other favorites lost meter by meter and finally could not defend themselves against the competition. Afterwards Nwajide was the only one left in the boat, the disappointment was evident in the women.
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