Eights, Women

East Germany and the Soviet Union, both of whom were boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics, had won the women’s coxed eights in every edition of the Olympics and the World Championships. Unlike other women’s events, however, non-boycotting nations had been historically more competitive, with the United States and Romania taking one bronze medal each at the last two Olympics and the former having won the most recent Pan American Championships and come in as runners-up at the last three editions of the World Championships. The United States also had one World Championship bronze medal (1979), while Romania had three (1974, 1975, and 1981). Only a final was held for this event in Los Angeles and it was the Americans who came in with an Olympic-best time under three minutes to win the gold medal. Romania took silver just a second later while the Netherlands beat out reigning Pan American bronze medalist Canada for bronze in a race that turned out to be surprisingly entertaining and competitive despite the absence of the best competitors.