PARIS — The Island-based Canadian women’s eights rowing team’s journey through the 2024 Olympic Games has been almost Shakespearean. As defending Olympic champions from Tokyo 2020, the crew can relate to the Bard’s famous line about heavy being the head that wears the crown.
Where have they seen this script before? The team will be looking to reprise a familiar route in its attempt to defend its Olympic gold medal from Tokyo, where it came unheralded out of the second-chance repechage to stun the world in the final.
Canada, then based on Elk Lake and now on Quamichan Lake in North Cowichan following a change in training venues, will have to do it again the hard way after opening its preliminary race Monday at the Paris Olympics with a third-place finish to be shunted to a repechage race here Thursday at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium with a spot in the final Saturday on the line.
“[Being defending champion] is an experience unlike any other. It’s a privilege instead of pressure,” said crew-member Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski.
“No one is going to take that medal away from us. No one is going to take that [Tokyo] result away from us. This is a completely different Games and I’m excited to see where we can go with it. There is still so much potential we can release in the next couple of races. Today was just another race. I know we’re in the mix and have the talent for more than that. I’m just excited to see what we can throw down.”
Gruchalla-Wesierski, University of Victoria Vikes grad Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River, Brentwood College grad Sydney Payne and coxswain Kristen Kit return in Paris from the Tokyo Olympic gold-medallist crew. Added is Tokyo Olympic pairs bronze-medallist Caileigh Filmer of Victoria, Kristina Walker and Jessica Sevick of Victoria, Maya Meschkuleit from Yale of the Ivy League and 2023 Santiago Pan Am Games gold medallist Abby Dent.
“Honestly, some of these girls used to be on my wall and were an inspiration,” said Meschkuleit, of the returning four Olympic gold medallists, and Tokyo bronze-medallist and Mount Douglas Secondary graduate Filmer.
“At the beginning it was a little bit daunting getting to row in the boat in front of Kash [Gruchalla-Wesierski] and behind Caileigh [Filmer] but it’s an honour. We fit together like pieces of a puzzle.”
They will need to as the Olympic week progresses.
“It’s a completely different crew but equally, if not more, talented,” said Gruchalla-Wesierski, who returned in time for her golden turn in Tokyo, after being seriously injured in a cycling accident during a team-building exercise at Strathcona Park just before the pandemic-delayed previous Games in 2021.
“I really value the young bucks in the boat and the spiciness they bring. We’re trying to pull them up but they are pushing us forward.”
Meschkuleit, from the younger generation, added: “All the rowers in the crew are excited to get after it the rest of the week and represent the Leaf to the best of our abilities.”
Great Britain won the prelim group race in overwhelming fashion in six minutes, 16.20 seconds to advance directly to the final. Second-place Australia was across in 6:18.61, third-place Canada (6:21.31) and fourth place Denmark will go through the repchage in order to get there. Romania won the other opening race Monday in a dominant 6:12.31 to go directly to the final. While Great Britain and Romania saved themselves from an extra, potentially-sapping repechage race down the 2,000 metre course, Canada says there are certain benefits to the repechage because it’s hard to find international competition training in North Cowichan.
“Going through the rep is always an advantage for us,” said Gruchalla-Wesierski. “We don’t get to race internationally very often. It gives us another race under our belts and lets us fine tune. We have a lot more to show.”
