A big setback for the small-boat plan
The strategy made sense, in theory.
After winning a pair of rowing silvers at the London Olympics, the overseers of Canada’s national program wanted to increase their medal haul at future Olympics. So math was done. It was noted that Canada used 18 athletes – 16 rowers and two coxies — to win a medal in each of the men’s and women’s eights in London. New Zealand, by contrast, needed just nine athletes to win five medals, including three golds, because their athletes had succeeded in smaller boats.
Smaller boats, previously not a Rowing Canada focus, could mean more medal chances. In the copycat sporting universe, an idea was cribbed. The most striking result of the rethink is the lack of a Canadian entry here in the men’s eight — a marquee event in which Canada piled up three golds and a silver in the past eight Olympics.
Supporters of the new approach were dealt a significant blow on Monday when Canada’s entry in men’s quadruple sculls was eliminated from medal contention. The quad, as it’s known, is one of those small boats that probably wouldn’t have been at the Olympics if Canada had stuck to its traditional focus on the eight. And now, after a fifthplace finish in a repechage that required them to finish in the top two for a berth in the gold-medal race, its members are destined for the dreaded B final, a consolation race of little consolation.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Canada’s oarsfolk on Monday. The men’s four — which includes two members of the London eight — moved comfortably into the semifinal by finishing second in the heat. And the members of the women’s lightweight double sculls, Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee, announced themselves as medal contenders by winning their heat.
Still, given that the women’s eight looked underwhelming in finishing fifth in a six-boat opening race — albeit with the knowledge they can move into the final with a top-four finish in Wednesday’s five-boat repechage — it was a less-than-optimal start to the Olympic regatta. Given that rowing has received about $17 million in Own the Podium funding during the Rio quadrennial, more than any other Canadian summer sport, expectations are high here, and the quad’s flame-out obviously won’t help in meeting them.
“It’s a real disappointment,” said Peter Cookson, Rowing Canada’s high performance director.
“I had high hopes for that particular boat.”
The members of the quad sat dumbfounded on the dock near the finish line after the race, perhaps pondering how four years of toil concluded on a crushing down note.
“I think we just beat ourselves. We just tried too hard,” said Rob Gibson, a member of the silver-medal eight from 2012 who committed to the small-boat approach. “We started pulling apart from each other. And in a crew like this, we’ve really got to be one unit. We’ve said it all along. We’re strong enough to be with the best crews in the world. We’re fit enough. We just beat ourselves there.”
Added Will Dean: “This is an incredibly frustrating last five minutes of the last four years we spent together working on this.”
While members of Canada’s four acknowledged they were gutted to see their colleagues in the quad have their Olympic dream shattered — “I had tears streaming down my face for those guys,” said Will Crothers, a London silver medallist in the eight — there was no public secondguessing of the small-boats strategy.
“I mean, I think at first everyone was definitely a little confused with the decision (to dry-dock the eight). But you take a step back and look at it and you go, OK, this makes sense,” said Conlin McCabe, the other alumnus of the London eight competing here in the four. “If we want to be a dominant rowing nation, we have to go for the smaller events . . . so that we can get multiple medals at the Olympics. The quad didn’t do it the first time around. That doesn’t mean that Canada should give up on the men’s quad. That’s an event we can dominate. Those guys are pioneers in that event for Canadians.”
Actually, they’re not. Doug Hamilton, the father of NHLers Dougie and Freddie, was a member of a Canadian quad that won bronze at the 1984 Olympics before winning world-championship gold a year later. And Canada has a history of success in sculls — where the athletes use two oars apiece — with the world-class likes of Silken Laumann, Derek Porter and Marnie McBean.
Somewhere along the way, that success waned, perhaps in part because of the relentless focus on sweep rowing — in which athletes pull on one oar each — in the high school and university ranks in North America. But there are signs it’s coming back, even if they might not show up here. Canada won gold in a quad at the under-23 worlds. And the men’s Olympic quad had some moments of success in World Cup races. Still, in the biggest moment of their quadrennial, they couldn’t bring the goods. And in the Own the Podium era, that’ll call for some accounting.
Said Cookson: “It’s not a lost cause. It’s just that it didn’t happen for this particular day. We do need to evaluate (the overall approach to the program). But I still believe in my heart that it’s the right decision and the right way to go . . . Sometimes you do things right for 364 days of the year, and on the 365th day it doesn’t go quite right.”