Olympia 2021 | Rowing finals: Germany eight lose to New Zealand

Nine years later, the eight Germany wanted to win the gold medal again at the Olympics. But after a long period of dominance, the showboat is no longer enough for the Olympic finals of all places.

Batsman Hans Usek was completely exhausted and looked frustrated by the scene in Tokyo Bay, and his fellow strongmen also seemed unhappy. Germany’s eight failed in his big Olympic gold project. The show boat had to settle for a silver medal behind New Zealand at the Olympics on the Sea Forest Waterway on Friday after the team dominated the global elite for years. Great Britain came in third place.

With that, the German Rowing Association’s last hope for gold was gone. Before the eyes of the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, everything was directed towards the great coup of the pioneer after the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro. It was set to be the second gold medal since reunification, nine years after London 2012. What could possibly go wrong? Since 2017, the DRV8 helmsman Martin Sauer has won the world title three times in a row, winning four European Championships and also setting the world record.

And at the Tokyo Regatta Track, everything went according to plan with gray clouds and a slight roar of thunder. The German boat quickly took the lead, but the competition could not be eliminated. In a close-knit race, the British and New Zealanders were suddenly in front of the German boat. It was as if the weight of the favorite role would paralyze the parade boat, the gap grew from meter to meter. With the final enemy, the silver was at least spared. In any case.

The German boat proved its superiority in the lead up. The gold medal nominees for batsman Usek had won their race on Saturday with confidence and, like Holland, made it straight into the final. With New Zealand winning the replay, four more boats qualified for the showdown in Tokyo Bay. But appearances of superiority were deceptive.

Silver is another setback for the DRV. Previously, only lightweight fieldweight Jonathan Rommelman and Jason Osborne won the silver on Thursday. Golden Hope Oliver Zeidler surprisingly failed in the semi-finals and only won the B final by a wide margin on Friday. But Zeidler was not happy, the disappointment of the missed final match was too great. There Greek Stefanos Netoskos surprisingly won the gold with the best Olympic time.

“It’s going to take me to come to terms with it,” Zeidler said, but declared his career continuation: ‘I definitely want to keep going. I do it for my dad too, for all the work he puts into it.”

In addition, New Zealand’s Emma Twigg won the women’s race and Canada won eight. In both competitions, the German boats were not in the final. In Rio, DRV booked two golds and one silver. A total of seven boats was initially in Tokyo.