Romania has dominated Olympic rowing, especially in the women’s 8 event, for decades. How do they do it? Read on.
Romania’s women’s 8+1 rowing crew won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris, dominating from start to finish for 2,000 meters, beating second place Canada by four seconds at the finish in the time of 5:54.Romanian Rowing: Sustained Excellence
The Romanian women beat two historic rowing powers (Canada and Britain) soundly, with the United States close behind in fourth. In fact, this was no fluke. Heading into Paris, Romania were the most decorated nation in this event, boasting nine Olympic medals, three more than any other country.
Romania’s tally in Olympic rowing competitions as of August 7th stood overall at 20 gold medals, 11 silver, and 9 bronze. Impressive. And this country of 19 million people has been among the best in the world at rowing for a while.
And this year, the U.S. and Romania qualified the most boats, 12 each, for the Paris Games. The women’s 8+1 crew was seen as the favorite for the gold medal at 1.65 to 1 per betting services followed by the US at 3.5 to 1. Team Romania is made up of Magda Rusu, Roxana Anghel, Adriana Adam, Iulia Beiuș, Mădălina Bereș, Maria Tivodariu, Ioana Vrânceanu, Amalia Bereș, Victoria Petreanu.
How did Romania become so good at Rowing ?
Full disclosure: I rowed in college at the University of Washington (Seattle) a long time ago. I was first exposed to rowing tradition and lore then. My historic stereotypes of rowing revolved around schools like: Cambridge, Oxford and Ivy League schools Princeton, Penn, Yale and Harvard and places like the Head of the Charles River in Boston and the Henley Regatta in England.
