"VAN" (Sports Desk - Tokyo2020 - 29.07.2021) :: Italy’s Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini win tight race to become women's lightweight double sculls Olympic champions; defending champions Netherlands 3rd.
After 2,000m of racing, Italy wins the women's lightweight double sculls title.
Valentina Rodini and Federica Cesarini rowed to the gold in 6:47.54. France was just 0.14secs behind, claiming the silver in 6:47.68. Netherlands took the bronze in 6:48.03.
The gold was Italy's first Olympic medal in women's rowing (they have won 40 medals in men's rowing).
Only European rowers have won an Olympic gold medal in this event, and this unofficial tradition did not change at the Sea Forest Waterway with the top four boats hailing from the continent.
The race was a highly competitive one, with no crew dominating throughout.
Great Britain’s Emily Craig and Imogen Grant led the way in the first 500m, with France and Italy close behind.
The lead changed hands several times throughout the race.
By the halfway mark, the top four boats - Netherlands, France, Italy and Great Britain - were separated by less than a second.
At the 1500m point, there was change of positions again, with Great Britain moving up to second and the French boat - featuring Claire Bove and Laura Tarantola, a former world champion in the lightweight women’s single sculls - down to fourth.
The real excitement came in the final 500m of the race.
Italy made a concerted push for home, moving from third to first. France, 4th, followed them through into second place.
And this is how the race ended, with gold for Italy and silver for France.
The silver is France's second rowing medal in a women's event. It had previously claimed bronze in the pair at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996.
There was a photo finish for the bronze between the Netherlands and Great Britain.
The boats were eventually separated by just 0.01 seconds. The decision went the way of the Netherlands crew of Marieke Keijser and Ilse Paulis, who was defending the title she won at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 with Maaike Head.
The Netherlands got the bronze, and the British pair finished off the podium in fourth.
This was the fifth rowing medal for Netherlands at the Tokyo 2020 Games, at least two more than it won in any other Olympic Games.
"I thought we were good until the last 100m," said Keijser on the photo finish, "and then I didn't know because I was only getting my boat as soon as possible to the finish line. So I didn't know. I was busy with damage control."
"I just messed it up the last 100m and I don't know why. I was not feeling pressured, I felt really comfortable. It happened," she added.
"We did what we could, and I think we have it in ourselves to become the champions but today it was not our day."
TOKYO2020
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