Australia takes two gold medals in Olympic rowing

BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China (AP) Australia won gold medals in two races and silver in another on Saturday, the strongest showing of all the Olympic crews on the first day of finals at Shunyi Rowing-Canoeing Park.

"I think it's a great way to start it off," said Australian rower David Crawshay. "Hopefully the pressure has come off the people that compete tomorrow."

Crawshay and Scott Brennan won the men's double sculls in 6 minutes, 27.77 seconds. They led at every 500-meter mark to win a six-boat field that had no strong favorite.

They had help adding to Australia's medal collection. Drew Ginn and Duncan Free finished in 6:37.44 to win gold in men's pair - Ginn's third Olympic gold medal and second straight in the pair.

"Just as we were on the water, the pair was out there winning the gold," Crawshay said. "It was great to get on the water then because we were happy."

The men's four nearly made it three golds, leading most of the way in the final race of the day until Britain caught them at the end. Australia took the silver in 6:07.85.

Britain continued its dominance in the four and won the gold medal for the third straight Olympics.

Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge used a fantastic sprint over the final 500 meters to make sure that the gold medal will stay in Britain for another four years.

While Britain is used to gold around the neck, China is still looking for its first gold medal in rowing. China did win the silver in women's pair - Wu You and Gao Yulan finished in 7:22.38 and the country now has five career Olympic rowing medals.

"It wasn't expected that we'd get a medal because the Olympics is such a huge event," said Gao through a translator. "We're very honored to take silver."

New Zealand and Britain each took home one gold medal and two bronze.

Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria won the women's single sculls in 7:22.34 and added another Olympic medal to go with the bronze she won in the Athens Games and the silver in Sydney.

Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus won the bronze medal in 7:23.98. Karsten won the gold medal at the Atlanta Games and at Sydney, and took silver in Athens.

New Zealand twin sisters Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell won in women's double sculls, defending their Athens triumph by one-hundredth of a second.

They won in a thrilling finish, just nipping Germany's Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth at the line. The crowd, roaring for the final 500 meters, fell silent waiting for the result to be posted.

After about 30 tense seconds, the sisters saw their names flash on the scoreboard. Thiele and Huth won silver in 7:07.33.

Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington of Britain won the bronze medal in 7:07.55.

In other races: Norway's Olaf Tufte successfully defended his first-place finish in Athens with a win in the men's single sculls in 6:59.83. Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic won silver in 7:00.63. New Zealand's Mahe Drysdale was the bronze medalist in 7:01.56.

Drysdale complained of illness earlier this week and was carried off the dock on a stretcher. A few minutes later, Drysdale walked to the medal stand with the assistance of two people. He had no help on the medal dock and even helped pick up Tufte in celebration.

"I've always walked out of the boat," Drysdale said. "And it was almost embarrassing to do that, but there wasn't anything left in the tank. At least I held on today."

In women's pair, Romania's Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu won the gold medal, bringing their combined career Olympic gold medal haul to nine. Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh of Belarus won bronze in 7:22.91.

In men's pair, David Calder and Scott Frandsen brought Canada its first medal of the Beijing Olympics with the silver. They finished in 6:39.55. New Zealand's Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater were the bronze medalists, crossing the line in 6:44.19.

In men's double sculls, Estonia's Tonu Endrekson and Juri Jaanson won the silver medal in 6:29.05. Britain's Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham took bronze in 6:29.10.

In the men's four, the Australian crew of Matt Ryan, James Marburg, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg and Francis Hegerty won the silver medal in 6:07.85. Julien Despres, Benjamin Rondeau, Germain Chardin and Dorian Mortelette of France were the bronze medalists, crossing the line in 6:09.31.