Dutch rowers bag third gold medal at Paris Olympics; Sailing team also finishes first

Rowers Ymke Clevering and Veronique Meester have won Olympic gold in the double skulls. It is the third gold medal for the Dutch rowing team at the Paris Olympics. Sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz also won gold after an insane end to the decisive medal race, NOS reports.

The Dutch rowers were in the lead from the start of the final on the water of Vaires-sur-Marne. After 500 meters of the 2 kilometers, they already had a boat-length lead over the Australians. Halfway through, the lead was already two boat lengths, and they never gave up that lead. Romania (silver) and Australia (bronze) only crossed the finish line at a big distance, over four seconds behind.

“We simply didn’t give them a chance; it felt so powerful,” Clevering and Meester said immediately after the race. “This is crazy,” Clevering said. “It went incredibly well.”

Clevering and Meester’s victory in the rowing double skulls is the fifth medal for the Dutch rowing team. Earlier this week, the team took gold in the men’s double four and the women’s double four and silver in the men’s double skulls and women’s four. It is also the second Olympic medal for both Clevering and Meester. They won silver in the coxless four at the Tokyo Games in 2021, then rowing with Karolien Florijn and Ellen Hogewerf.

Sailing

Sailors Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz had a crazy medal race. The Dutch women misjudged the finish line and thought they were done, even though they still had a long way to go. They still managed to snag the gold, according to NOS.

In the sailing medal race, the 10 best countries from the previous races competed against each other. The final result in the tournament was determined by the sum of all the races sailed, but with double points for the final. This meant that many countries still had a chance for a medal.

Van Aanholt and Duetz had a good starting position, being second in the rankings, just one point behind leader France. They sailed impeccably the entire race, taking the lead and even passing the race management boat. And that’s where the misunderstanding came in.

All week, the race management boat had been next to the finish line. But not today. Van Aanholt and Duetz slowed down, thinking they’d won, only to find out that they still had a distance yet to cover. They had to pick up speed again while several other countries, including Sweden, who also had a chance of winning the gold, passed them.

Sweden crossed the finish line first, followed by Italy. Van Aanholt and Duetz narrowly finished third. And then the calculations began. About ten minutes after the finish, it became clear that the Dutch women had won the gold medal with a two-point lead over Sweden, who had to settle for silver.