Rowing at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Women's eight

The women's eight competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics took place at Lake Casitas, California, United States of America.[1]

Women's eight
at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad
Date4 August
Competitors54 from 6 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kristen Thorsness
Kristine Norelius
Shyril O'Steen
Carie Graves
Kathy Keeler
Harriet Metcalf
Betsy Beard
Carol Bower
Jeanne Flanagan
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Marioara Trașcă
Lucia Sauca
Doina Liliana Snep-Balan
Aneta Mihaly
Aurora Plesca
Camelia Diaconescu
Viorica Ioja
Mihaela Armășescu
Adriana Chelariu
 Romania
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Wiljon Vaandrager
Marieke van Drogenbroek
Harriet van Ettekoven
Catharina Neelissen
Anne Quist
Nicolette Hellemans
Martha Laurijsen
Greet Hellemans
Lynda Cornet
 Netherlands
← 1980
1988 →

With only 6 boats in the competition, a single race was held.

Results

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The Romanian women had dominated the 1984 rowing competitions to this point, winning every race in each of the other events (single sculls, double sculls, quadruple sculls, coxless pair, and coxed four). The eight was the last race held, and "turned out to be surprisingly entertaining and competitive." The Romanians held a small lead over the Americans at the halfway mark, crossing at 1:29.28 to the United States' 1:29.62. But the Americans had a strong second half, breaking the finish line under the 3 minute mark—a feat which had not been accomplished before in Olympic history (the Soviets had come closest, with 3:00.19 in the first heat of the 1976 eight competition). The Romanians were not far behind, earning silver. There was also a closely contested race for the bronze medal between the Dutch and the Canadians; the former held off the latter. Great Britain started strong, running third at the halfway mark, before dropping back to fifth. West Germany came in sixth, over 5 seconds behind the Brits.[1][2]

Rank Rowers Coxswain Nation Time
  Betsy Beard   United States 2:59.80
  Viorica Ioja   Romania 3:00.87
  Martha Laurijsen   Netherlands 3:02.92
4 Lesley Anderson-Herweck   Canada 3:03.64
5 Sue Bailey   Great Britain 3:04.51
6 Heidrun Barth   West Germany 3:09.92

References

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  1. ^ a b "Rowing at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games: Women's Coxed Eights". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  2. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, p. 523.