'All about belief:' Canada wins silver in women's eights rowing at Paris Olympics

Canada's women's eights rowing crew celebrate after winning the silver medal at the Summer Olympics, Saturday, August 3, 2024 in in Vaires-sur-Marne, France. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

PARIS, France -

Avalon Wasteneys said one of the calls the Canadian women's eight rowing team had while training for the Paris Games was, "with each other, for each other."

It's a good mantra for a sport that requires eight women to pull in perfect unison, where rowing a split second faster or slower than one's teammates can throw off the effort.

On Saturday, Canada's defending-champion women's eight rowing team pulled their way together for a second straight Olympic medal, holding off Great Britain to capture silver at the Paris Olympics.

Wasteneys said the team had a "tough few years" after winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Games, including many changes to the team, but managed to come together at the right moment.

"At the end of the day it was all about belief," the Campbell River, B.C. athlete said. "We went out on that course and we knew that we were going to give our best possible race we could do, on the day it mattered," she said.

The Canadians finished with a time of five minutes 58.84 seconds at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, behind gold medallist Romania which finished in five minutes 54.39 seconds.

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Canada found itself in a tight battle with Great Britain for second with 500 metres to go, but were able to hold off their rivals to claim silver.

The Romanian team put on a dominant performance, leading for three-quarters of the race and finishing four seconds in front.

Wasteneys said she knew the team from Britain was close behind and the team would have to push hard all the way to the line.

"I was just digging as deep as I could, trying to find every ounce of energy and ultimately trying to leave the race course with zero regrets," she said.

Wearing red-and-white tracksuits, the Canadians waved and beamed as they received their medals. Afterwards, they raced up a hill to hug family and supporters — something they were denied during the largely spectator-free Tokyo pandemic Games.

Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski, a returning member of the Tokyo team, said she gave all she had at the start to help get her team into a good position, and then relied on her teammates to help her through to the end.

"I had almost nothing in me the last 200 metres," she said. "I really felt my team pushing me. I could hardly move, it hurt so much."

Coxswain Kristen Kit of St. Catharines, Ont. said the Canadians didn't have the greatest start, and had to adjust the plan.

"I kind of made an executive decision to keep us high, and get us in the race, and we were in the race," she said. "Honestly I was just really grateful the women trusted me to change the race tactics on the fly."

The Canadians entered Paris as the defending gold medallists, but Kit said the team slid down the standings after the last Olympics and "really struggled" to regain top form.

"To pull it together in nine months, this is a dream come true," said Kit, who intends to retire after Paris.

The team returned four members from the Tokyo games: Kit of St. Catharines, Ont., Calgary's Gruchalla-Wesierski, Wasteneys and Toronto's Sydney Payne.

Five others — Abby Dent of Kenora, Ont., Victoria's Caileigh Filmer, Maya Meschkuleit of Mississauga, Ont., Jessica Sevick of Strathmore, Alta., and Kristina Walker of Wolfe Island, Ont. — joined the returning members on this year's team.

The team finished third in Monday's qualifier, forcing them to go through a repechage on Thursday to qualify for the final — just as they did in Tokyo.

Dent, a first-time member of the team, said the first qualifier was "rough," but helped settle the team's nerves.

"We do a lot better when we’re backed into a corner," she said. "We were really excited to show the world what we had today," she added.

Canada has now won a rowing medal in every Olympics since 1992. However, it had fewer chances in Paris after qualifying only two boats compared to 10 in Tokyo. The second boat, with Jenny Casson of Kingston, Ont., and Jill Moffatt of Bethany, Ont., finished second in the B final of the lightweight women's double sculls.

Kit said the women's eight is all about getting a good start, and then "just sticking together." As coxswain, she's responsible for directing the boat, tactics and maintaining unison.

• Full coverage of the Paris Olympics on TSN.ca

Especially in the Olympics, rowers can instinctively want to look at other boats, or to start pulling harder — but success can come only by acting as one, she said.

"After the start, we were able to keep going together, and I think that’s why we were able to come out with a silver medal," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2024.