RIO DE JANEIRO -- Lindsay Jennerich has "relentless" tattooed on one of her wrists. It's been a mantra for her and teammate Patricia Obee in their pursuit of Olympic rowing redemption.
The Victoria duo were left heartbroken in London four years ago after flaming out in the semifinals, but will look back fondly on the Rio Games thanks to a tremendous push over the final 1,000 metres on Friday to win silver in the women's lightweight double sculls.
"If we couldn't do anything until the last 250 (metres), our last 250 is so strong I knew that we were going to get a bronze, at least," said Obee. "The aura in the boat felt like we're charging and it could be gold, it could be anything."
Sitting fifth in the six-boat field and trailing by nearly three seconds at the halfway mark, Jennerich and Obee showed off their powerful kick.
"Once those nerves got shaken out, which took longer than normal because it's an Olympic final, I just felt like a machine and Obee felt like a machine," said Jennerich. "Any other person I could think of racing with, if I was letting them know we were (fifth) that far from the line, it would be a risky thing to say to someone. That could really shut someone down, but I just knew the person Obee is.
"Letting her know we were (fifth) was only going to get something out of her."
The Canadians were 1.63 seconds back with 500 metres to go and then turned on the jets to move into second from third, finishing in seven minutes 5.88 seconds, just behind Ilse Paulis and Maaike Head of the Netherlands, who won gold in 7:04.73. China's Huang Wenyi and Pan Feihong took bronze in 7:06.49.
"I couldn't have asked for them to do more out there," said Canadian coach Tom Morris. "They did exactly what we said we were going to do in this regatta, which was, control, control, control. And then in the final, don't leave anything.
"They didn't leave anything."
Canadian Olympic Committee president Tricia Smith, a former rower, presented the women with their medals, giving them each a warm embrace.
Jennerich, 34, and Obee, 24, were devastated after finishing seventh in London, not because of where they ended up, but because they felt there was more in the tank.
That wasn't the case Friday at Lagoa Stadium.
"I'm really thankful for the Netherlands because they raced a race that made me feel really good about getting a silver medal," said Jennerich, who was competing at her last Olympics. "It truly was all we had. I pretty much petered out for the last two strokes and we basically limped ahead of China at the end.
"Around 200 (metres to go) I said to Obee: 'We could win.' We were closing in, but they were able to answer it and it left us just finishing our last drops of gas right to that line."
The Olympic regatta, which wraps up Saturday, has been plagued by weather issues from the start of competition at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. Two Serbian rowers were dumped out of their boat and into the picturesque venue's polluted water last weekend because of high winds and the resulting whitecapped waves, while two days were completely wiped out.
Canada had another chance at a podium later Friday when Will Crothers of Kingston, Ont., Kai Langerfeld of North Vancouver, B.C., Conlin McCabe of Brockville, Ont., and Tim Schrijver of Thedford, Ont., raced in the men's four final, but they were never in contention and finished disappointing sixth.
Rowing Canada decided to axe the successful men's eight after London to focus on smaller boats, but both the four and quadruple sculls -- which wound up finishing eighth -- failed to impress in Rio.
"That's really not what we wanted to get out of this, right? It's heartbreaking," said McCabe. "We really wanted to have a great performance today -- four guys that were capable of getting a medal and we didn't. We have to live with that and we have assess our performance and, I guess, figure out why we weren't able to do it."
Jennerich and Obee were Canada's best chance at a rowing medal in Rio, however by no means a sure thing. They were fourth at last year's world championships after placing second in 2014, but found their groove in the lead-up to Brazil, winning their final World Cup race in May.
They have been through highs and lows -- it took Obee some 18 months to get over London, while the result still bothers Jennerich -- and have a bond that both said can't be broken.
"I feel so thankful to be in a partnership with Lindsay," said Obee, pausing to collect herself as tears welled in her eyes. "There's people that maybe have Olympic gold medals right now, but I don't know if they would have feel the connection that Lindsay and I feel.
"Lindsay always has my back and I always have Lindsay's back. We're not using each other to get to an Olympic podium. I want it for her as much as I want it for myself. It's a pure friendship. I didn't want to let her down today, but I wasn't scared to have a bad performance out there because she would just feel sad for me and feel it."
Notes: In Friday's other race involving a Canadian, Carling Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., finished fourth in her women's single sculls semi, just missing out on a spot in the final. ... Canada's last medal hope is the women's eight, which will race in Saturday's final.
