GOLD ON THE WATER
Canada's women's eights crew, including coxswain Kristen Kit of UBC and Avalon Wasteneys from the University of Victoria, raise their arms in victory after winning gold Thursday on the last day of Olympic rowing in Tokyo. After the race, Kit revealed they were racing to honour the last Canadian women to win the event 29 years ago.
Canada's nose pushed ahead of five other noses Friday morning in Tokyo.
In a sport marked by the position of the bow-tip, Canadian rowers fired up a gold-medal pace mere seconds into their women's eights race on the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo.
And then, they held it — metre after metre, minute after minute.
They crossed the finish line. Raised arms; cried with joy; celebrated Canada's first gold medal in the event since 1992. New Zealand was second, .91 of a second back of Canada's 5:59.13, and China claimed bronze.
After a 29-year-wait, those first winners remained top of mind both before and after the race.
“We came out on this course today representing a legacy,” coxswain Kristen Kit told CBC TV a few minutes after crossing the finish line.
And then she paid tribute to the 1992 rowers who won gold medals for Canada, including Kathleen Heddle, who died of cancer earlier this year.
Kit told CBC those women “started the gold-medal tradition for Canadian women's rowing. And we continued that legacy today. Kathleen Heddle is no longer with us; she was with us on the start line.”
And that start line is where the Canadian launched their aggressive foray onto the 2,000-metre course. They made their move fast, and separated themselves from the other five crews in the very early stages of the race. At that point, it became a lingering question: Would the lead hold? Did they have the reserves?
Canada's team was not, by Olympic standards, a veteran group. Just three members of the current squad rowed when Canada's eights placed fifth in Rio in 2016: Susanne Grainger, Lisa Roman and Christine Roper.
Five more rowers were there for the first time: Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, Madison Mailey,
Sydney Payne, Andrea Proske and Avalon Wasteneys. Kit, the coxswain, guided Canada to bronze in mixed cox four at the 2016 Paralympics, and this was her first Olympics.
Friday's victory came one day after Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens won bronze for Canada in women's pairs.
Canada now has five medals in women's eights, all of them since that first foray onto the top podium in 1992. They also claimed silver in 1996, bronze in 2000 and silver in 2012.
Friday morning in Tokyo, they doubled the number of Canadian women's eights gold-medal winners with a hectic pace and a refusal to give ground.
“These women trusted me,” Kit told CBC. “They're the most special group of women I've ever had the privilege of coxing.”
These women trusted me. They're the most special group of women I've ever had the privilege of coxing.