2012 USA Men's 8

[hbh1636]

Side note - the 4- is all but named, right? Since Jake Cornelius and Will Miller left for the eights camp it seems that only Ochal/Cole/Rummel/Gault have been off the radar for the past 6 weeks.

Let's say they're in the boat and are getting ample time to gel before seeing action.

We'll say the eight remains as is as far as personnel goes - they've still got the double peak but have much more time to train with specific purpose than they have in the past.

The pair I could see going the way of Gennaro/Otto, or possibly from among the pool of the other top eights camp performers who didn't make the cut - i.e. Stafford/Guregian/Coppola/Walsh. Not sure if any of those guys are pairing up together but I would imagine a top performer or two could come out of there. Gennaro and Otto likely have the most racing/training experience together here though after winning 2011 Pan Ams and placing third at the Fall Speed Order together.

Interestingly, if things play out in this manner then we will probably see US sweep crews following a longer period of crew preparation than we've seen in recent times. With the exception of the pair, things are looking unofficially selected nearly as early as the Brits and Aussies did theirs. Cool.



Edit: on second thought, thinking too rationally here. Teti and McLaren should drop the 4 slowest guys from the eight, have them sit London out, and then drop the guys from the 4- into the eight as well. Have guys 9-12 from the initial eights camp go race the 4-, and create a super eight. Right?

[LoreMaster1]

Stafford and Peszek are training in OKC, and, er, someone is rowing with JR out east. Can't remember who right now (though it isn't Silveira, who trained with him a few months back), maybe Nareg.

[porsche5k]

Stafford and Peszek are training in OKC, and, er, someone is rowing with JR out east. Can't remember who right now (though it isn't Silveira, who trained with him a few months back), maybe Nareg.

Could the silver fox Koven be with JR?

[LoreMaster1]

That sounds right.

[ocanottier]

JR is rowing with Guregian. Koven appears to be rowing with Blomquist.

[scullerjay]

Don't know what you guys are smoking...the US (of course) was the first to read the qualification/substitution rules "in fine detail" and start interpretting back 12 years ago with the Wherley/Simon M4- scenario. The only way the athletes in the US M8+ status will change is if there is an injury or the US (at some level) decides not to enter the event at the Olympics.

In the first case, there wouldn't be a law suit, USRowing (and the USOC) would approve as well as FISA.

I think you are hung up on the end date of the M4- selection which coincides with the last possible 'nomination date'...and some short hand for the M8+ where it has a blanket statement that selection for non-qualified is the same as qualified except for the end date of the camp.

At the end of that camp the line ups were 'approved' by the nomination committee (which is represented at all levels not just HPC) and somewhat separates/insulates the decision from a single individual (camp coach). Once that lineup went to FISA and they crossed the line, those names are cast in stone. At this point, USRowing is responsible for the individuals on the team until the final roster is sent to the USOC. From now until that date USRowing has to abide by the rules surrounding the removal of an athlete. After that date the USOC has 'jurisdiction'. Maybe "has to" is too strong and "without legal issues" is more accurate.

From FISA's standpoint changes in lineups really surround injury to a athlete and, somewhat new, the prioritization of boats by a country at the Olympics (although prioritization has been discussed from "day one" in conjunction with qualification and alternate athletes). The Executive Council will try to ensure every possible athlete slot gets utilized. I'd venture to say that if for some reason an athlete was removed "outside of injury" from this boat (e.g. - discovery of non-citizenship) that the qualification may be viewed as void and the next placing would be allowed to row in the regatta. There will be some date in a week or two where all countries that qualified boats have to confirm they will use those slots. If a country declines a slot then FISA will take a look at other qualification regatta "runner ups" across all events to fill these seats.

I guess the last possible, but not plausible, change would be for some athletes in the M8+ to double up. So if you want to start a controversy. The eight returns, breaks up into pairs and goes to trials. One of them wins and excepts the position. This would force the US to double up the M2- and M8+ (since I think trials is after the FISA confirmation date) which in turn opens up two additional slots at the Olympics. The FISA Exec Council looks at the results and determines that the event that was the most compeative that deserves those slots is the LM2x....and The USRowing LM2x gets to go to the Olympics.

Jay

[crewu]

Glad that qualification nightmare is now over. Their race wasn't very inspiring, but they accomplished their objective. Time to get back to Cali and back to work. Finally, the rowers in that boat can start focusing on winning a medal without Lucerne hanging over their heads.

True, not inspiring at all. Relief, yes. Celebration, not yet.

First 500 was a couple seconds slower for all crews compared to the earlier heat so maybe conditions were not fast. Still, we are going to see Germany and The Brits rowing 5:25 this weekend and that just feels like a different league at the moment from today's performance.

Yeah, I mean't 5:19.

Here's something interesting. The Aussie women rowed 6:12.36 at the Final Qualification Regatta just 10 minutes before USA men's eight rowed 5:36. Today the aussie women's eight rowed 6:00 flat.

But the comparison I really like is how strong the USA men were to the 1,000 last week relative to this weeks Lucerne results. Fingers crossed Stewie that you nailed it with your assessment that the USA men simply played defence in the second half of the race.

[crewu]

Wow, men's eight rep in Lucerne was a scorcher.

http://www.rowingone.com/pdfresult/0000 ... 1_R.CP.PDF