Rowing Day 8 Review: Final Rowing medals won at Shunyi

(BEIJING, August 17) -- Canada took the blue ribbon Men's Eight gold medal on Sunday at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park -- the final race on the 14-event Olympic program.

It was a commanding win for the world champions after Kyle Hamilton took his crew out from the start with blistering speed.

The Canadians (5:23.89) had a one length lead by the 500m mark, maintained it through the middle part of the race and had enough fuel in the tank to destroy late challenges over the final 350m from silver medalists Great Britain (5:25.11) and bronze medalists the United States, who were the defending Olympic champions (5:25.34).

The United States (6:05.34) took out the Women's Eight in similarly commanding fashion with an all-the-way 1.88-second victory over the Netherlands (6:07.22) and Romania (6:07.25). The win broke Romania's 12-year hold on the Women's Eight Olympic title.

Earlier in the day the Netherlands took the first rowing gold medal of the final day of competition with a well-timed win in the Lightweight Women's Double Sculls.

Trailing in the early part of the 2,000m course, Marit van Eupen and Kirsten van der Kolk from the Netherlands put in a stunning final 500m to win in 6:54.74. Finland (6:56.03) took silver and Canada took bronze (6:56.68).

Great Britain's Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase set an Olympic-best time in winning the final of the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls.

The pre-regatta favorites ran a typically controlled race to defeat Greece (silver) and Denmark (bronze) in a time of 6:10.99.

Denmark successfully defended its title to take gold in the Lightweight Men's Four. The Danes were in a class of their own, dictating the race from the start and making sure there was enough clear water between them and the rest of the field to see off any challenges. They finished in 5:47.76, a length in front of the pack.

The consistent World Cup finalists were the fastest qualifiers for the event and were too good for silver medalists Poland (5:49.39) and bronze medalists Canada (5:50.09).

China won its first gold medal of the Olympic rowing regatta with a come-from-behind half-length win over Great Britain (silver) and Germany (bronze) in the final of the Women's Quadruple Sculls. It was also China's first Rowing gold ever.

Great Britain was out to have the first women's crew to ever win an Olympic gold medal for the nation and looked like they were doing just that for the first three quarters of the race.

At the 1,500m mark China mounted their challenge and, in the space of 20 strokes, had overtaken the leaders to establish a half-length lead which they were able to maintain to the line.

Poland won the Men's Quadruple Sculls gold medal. In one of the most controlled rows of the week, the triple world champions set the pace for the 2000m, were never out of first place and finished in 5:41.33.