Strategy pays off with bronze for U.S. men

BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China — Before shoving the men's heavyweight eight out to race Sunday, coach Mike Teti went down the line of his rowers, saying good luck to each one.

When Teti — about to see his last race in 12 years as U.S. team coach — got to his coxswain, Marcus McElhenney, he switched gears.

"I patted him on the head and just said, 'Go Bonner,' " Teti said later.

The coach and the coxswain are both Monsignor Bonner alumni. The connection from their Drexel Hill, Pa., high school never made it easier for McElhenney. Teti sometimes seemed to bend over backward to prove there was no favoritism in any of his boats.

On Sunday, though, the Bonner guys finished the day smiling.

The U.S. didn't win gold like it did in Athens. That would have been a bigger surprise this time than it was in 2004. But the U.S. boat, with three Athens veterans aboard, including former University of Washington coach Bryan Volpenhein, picked up a bronze and looked thrilled to get it.

"I'm really happy," Volpenhein said. "I was really excited to get out there today. I'm not disappointed with bronze. It's always good to come away with a medal."

The U.S. had not won medals in consecutive Olympics in this event since 1952-56.

Canada, the defending world champion, finished the 2,000-meter course in 5 minutes, 23.89 seconds for the gold. The U.S. dueled Great Britain for silver, losing out by .23 seconds.

But they viewed the medal as an achievement. The Americans had struggled in the first heat of the Olympics, going out too quickly. This time, they went the opposite way. Early in the race, they were sixth out of six boats. Halfway through, they were fourth, still behind the Netherlands.

"The Dutch were just sitting and the Australians (in fifth) and Poles (in sixth) were just sitting," McElhenney said. "I said, 'All right, boys. We're in fourth, let's go to bronze right now, ready and go.' They responded. We started getting out and it became a three-way race."

That had been the plan set out by Teti: start driving halfway through.

"It's almost like you go in a hole and pray to God you come out the other end," Steven Coppola said of making that move at the 1,000-meter mark. "It's always a risky move because if you go too far in the hole and someone else has something left, it will hit you right on the back side. It's risky. but it's rewarding when it pays off."

Notes

• Poland won the gold in men's quad sculls and China in the women's quad sculls, that country's first-ever gold medal in rowing.

• Denmark won the gold in lightweight men's four, and Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter became the first British pair to win men's double sculls. Kristen van der Kolk and Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands took gold in women's lightweight double sculls.