Just a shade under two seconds is all that separated Langley’s Lisa Roman and the rest of her Canadian women’s eight rowing team and a spot on the podium at the Rio Olympic Games.
The Canadian boat crossed the finish line in 6:06.04 to place fifth, a couple of seconds behind the bronze-medal boat from Romania, which crossed in 6:04.10.
The race was won by the United States in a time of 6:01.49 while Great Britain took silver in 6:03.98.
New Zealand was fourth in 6:05.48.
Canada led for the first half of the race but could not sustain the lead.
“We raced a gutsy race. Unfortunately we weren’t able to handle the conditions in the last 1000m but (I’m) proud of us for leading the pack out of the gates,” Roman said.
Canada had advanced to the final after winning their repêchage race a few days earlier in a time of 6:28.07, five seconds ahead of Romania.
In the opening round, the Canadian boat was third in their heat with a time of 6:12.44.
This was the first Olympic Games for Roman.
“The Olympic experience is amazing,” she said.
“Being surrounded by so many talented athletes makes me realize how much it means to me to be able to be here representing Canada.”
Roman, who turns 27 next month, began rowing at a learn to row session held at the University of Fraser Valley in 2008, where she attended after graduating from D.W. Poppy.
She later rowed at Washington State and has been training with the Canadian national team program for the last four years.