Satisfied With Silver: Canada’s women’s eight rowing team finishes behind U.S.

LONDON – It wasn’t the medal they hoped for, but the Canadian women’s eight rowing team was satisfied with silver at the London Olympics on Thursday.

Canada made a late charge but failed to catch the defending-champion Americans.

The U.S. took gold in six minutes 10.59 seconds ahead of Canada (6:12.06) and the Netherlands (6:13.12).

Winning silver was victory enough for Canada against their powerful rivals. The Americans are six-time world champions and haven’t been beaten in six years.

“Silver’s great. We can’t be disappointed with that at all,” said Winnipeg’s Janine Hanson.

Canada entered the final having put a scare into the U.S. after losing by only 0.03 seconds at a World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland in May.

“They’re a great crew and have been for years and have quite a few returning from past seasons. We knew it was going to be a tight race,” said Hanson.

“They’re a good crew to try and fight with. We just did our best to stay with them, every stroke just try to push for more and try and push through. It didn’t quite work but silver, we’re happy.”

The Canadian women had been shut out of the medals in the last two Olympics, and hasn’t won gold since 1992 in Barcelona. The silver matches the one won by the men’s eight Wednesday.

The medal is the fifth for coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie of London, Ont. The 52-year-old veteran was competing in her seventh Olympics and is the first Canadian athlete to win medals in five different Games.

Elsewhere at the London Games:

— Canada’s men’s four rowing team failed to make the final after finishing fifth in their semifinal heat.

— Victoria natives Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee didn’t advance to the women’s lightweight double sculls final after a fourth-place finish in the semis.

— Michael Braithwaite of Duncan, B.C., and Winnipeg’s Kevin Kowalyk were last in final B of men’s double sculls for a 12th-place finish.

— Swimmer Brent Hayden of Mission, B.C., was sixth in his heat but still qualified for the men’s 50-metre freestyle semifinals. Hayden won bronze in the 100 on Wednesday for his first Olympic medal.

— Sinead Russell of Burlington, Ont., qualified for the women’s 200 backstroke semifinals. Russell’s time of 2:09.04 was seventh overall. Hilary Caldwell of White Rock, B.C., was 18th overall, two spots out of a qualifying spot.

— Toronto’s Alexa Komarnycky and Vancouver’s Savannah King both failed to advance to the women’s 800 freestyle final. Komarnycky had the 11th best time overall, while King was 15th with eight spots available.

— Joe Bartoch of London, Ont., didn’t qualify for the men’s 100 butterfly semifinals after finishing sixth in his heat.

— In judo, Amy Cotton of Antigonish, N.S., was eliminated in the round of 32 of the women’s under-78 kilogram class by France’s Audrey Tcheumeo.

— In women’s beach volleyball, Annie Martin of Lachine, Que., and Marie-Andree Lessard of Lasalle, Que., lost to Italy’s Marta Menegatti and Greta Cicolari 21-12, 23-25, 15-10 to finish winless through three round-robin games.