Women's double sculls competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held between August 9 and 16 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
This rowing event is a double scull event, meaning that each boat is propelled by a pair of rowers. The "scull" portion means that each rower uses two oars, one on each side of the boat; this contrasts with sweep rowing in which each rower has one oar and rows on only one side. The competition consists of multiple rounds. Finals were held to determine the placing of each boat; these finals were given letters with those nearer to the beginning of the alphabet meaning a better ranking.
During the first round two heats were held. The top boat in each heat advanced directly to the A final, with all others going to the repechage. The two repechage heats filled out the rest of the finals, with the best two boats in each repechage heat advancing to the A final and the remaining two boats in each repechage going to the B final.
Each final determined a set of rankings. The A final determined the medals, along with the rest of the places through 6th. The B final gave the rest of the rankings, through 10th place.
In the A Final, Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand defended their double sculls gold medal from the 2004 Summer Olympics in a highly competitive race which saw them beat the German crew by just 1/100 of a second (7:07.32 versus 7:07.33), and the third-placing British crew by just 0.23 seconds. This was the first time in Olympic history that the Women's Double Sculls title had been successfully defended.
Schedule All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8) Date Time RoundSaturday, August 9, 2008 16:40-17:00 HeatsMonday, August 11, 2008 17:00-17:20 RepechagesFriday, August 15, 2008 17:30-17:40 Final BSaturday, August 16, 2008 16:50-17:00 Final A
Results
Heats Qualification Rules: 1->FA, 2..->R
Heat 1 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Georgina Evers-Swindell, Caroline Evers-Swindell 7:03.92FA2Annekatrin Thiele, Christiane Huth7:09.06R3Megan Kalmoe, Ellen Tomek7:11.17R4Ionelia Neacsu, Roxana Gabriela Cogianu7:12.17R5Kateryna Tarasenko, Yana Dementyeva7:25.03R
Heat 2 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Li Qin, Tian Liang7:03.13FA2Jitka Antošová, Gabriela Vařeková 7:04.23R3Elise Laverick, Anna Bebington7:08.65R4Catriona Sens, Sonia Mills 7:13.25R5Laura Schiavone, Elisabetta Sancassani7:30.25R
Repechages Qualification Rules: 1-2>FA, 3..->FB
Repechage 1 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Elise Laverick, Anna Bebington6:54.92FA2Annekatrin Thiele, Christiane Huth6:55.96FA3Ionelia Neacsu, Roxana Gabriela Cogianu7:01.69FB4Laura Schiavone, Elisabetta Sancassani7:08.00FB
Repechage 2 RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Megan Kalmoe, Ellen Tomek6:58.84FA2Jitka Antošová, Gabriela Vařeková 7:00.75FA3Catriona Sens, Sonia Mills 7:04.30FB4Kateryna Tarasenko, Yana Dementyeva7:06.77FB
Final B RankRowersCountryTimeNotes1Kateryna Tarasenko, Yana Dementyeva7:17.82 2Catriona Sens, Sonia Mills 7:19.733Ionelia Neacsu, Roxana Gabriela Cogianu7:20.99 4Laura Schiavone, Elisabetta Sancassani7:29.22
Final A RankRowersCountryTimeNotesGeorgina Evers-Swindell, Caroline Evers-Swindell7:07.32 Annekatrin Thiele, Christiane Huth7:07.33Elise Laverick, Anna Bebington7:07.554Li Qin, Tian Liang7:15.85 5Megan Kalmoe, Ellen Tomek7:17.53 6Miroslava Knapková, Gabriela Vařeková 7:25.09
References
External links NYT Olympic Report