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Harvard Twice Strikes Gold and Silver in Beijing

August 18, 2008

Harvard athletes competing in Beijing won two gold and two silver medals over the weekend.

In rowing, Caryn Davies ’05 stroked the United States women’s eight to victory, staving off a late surge by the Netherlands. Romania was third.

Malcolm Howard ’05, rowing in the five seat of the Canadian men’s eight, earned gold in a win over Great Britain, which placed second, and the United States, which came from behind to capture third. More on Davies and Howard can be found here.

In the women’s single sculls, Michelle Guerette ’02 took the silver medal. Although in fifth place at the halfway mark, she put together her “best race ever,” she says, over the subsequent 1,000 meters, finishing just 0.44 seconds behind the winner, Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria, and 1.2 seconds ahead of Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus, the two-time Olympic champion. More about Guerette’s race can be read here.

Twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, both class of ’04, placed sixth in the men’s pair final. After finishing last in their opening heat on Saturday, August 9, they handily won their repechage the next Monday, earning them a spot in last Wednesday’s semifinal competition, in which they battled back from an early deficit to place second.

In the women’s foil competition, Emily Cross ’08 (’09) led the seventh-ranked U.S. team to a series of victories, culminating in the gold-medal match against top-ranked Russia. Team USA took home the silver. More details can be found here.

In men’s tennis, James Blake lost the bronze medal match to Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Blake staged a stunning upset of number-one-ranked Roger Federer in the quarterfinals on Thursday, August 14, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (2). But the next day, he lost a tightly contested semifinal match to Fernando Gonzalez, 4-6, 7-5, 11-9, setting up the bronze-medal match.