Eights, Women
| Date | 11 – 17 August 2008 |
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| Status | Olympic |
| Location | Shunyi Aolinpike Shuishang Gongyuan, Mapo, Shunyi |
| Participants | 65 from 7 countries |
As the winner of the event at the last two World Championships, the United States was the favored nation in the women’s coxed eights at the 2008 Summer Olympics, but they were certain to face a challenge from the Romanians, the defending Olympic champions, runners-up at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships, and winners of the European Championships when they had been resurrected in 2007. Australia was another possible contender, having been World Champion in 2005 and bronze medalist in 2006. The Americans and the Romanians won their heats in the opening round, with the latter posting the fastest time. In the final, the Americans were dominant and took the gold medal with time to spare, but Romania had a much more difficult time staving off a challenge from the Netherlands, the 2005 World bronze medalists, who came from a distant fourth at the three-quarter mark to steal silver with only 0.03 seconds to spare, leaving the Romanians with bronze.
Round One
| Date | 11 August 2008 |
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| Format | Winner of each heat advanced to final; all others to repêchage. |
Heat #1
| Time | 14:50 |
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| Pos | Lane | Competitors | NOC | Time | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 500-1,000 m | 1,000-1,500 m | 1,500-2,000 m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | United States |  USA | 6:06.53 | 1:28.37 (1) | 3:00.20 (1) | 4:33.76 (1) | 1:31.83 (1) | 1:33.56 (1) | 1:32.77 (3) | |||||
| Erin Cafaro • Lindsay Shoop • Anna Goodale • Elle Logan • Anna Cummins • Susan Francia • Caroline Lind • Caryn Davies • Mary Whipple | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Great Britain |  GBR | 6:08.68 | 1:30.67 (3) | 3:03.03 (2) | 4:36.68 (2) | 1:32.36 (2) | 1:33.65 (2) | 1:32.00 (1) | |||||
| Carla Ashford • Beth Rodford • Natasha Page • Natasha Howard • Jess Eddie • Sarah Winckless • Alison Knowles • Katie Greves • Caroline O'Connor | |||||||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | Canada |  CAN | 6:12.68 | 1:31.71 (4) | 3:06.20 (4) | 4:40.00 (4) | 1:34.49 (4) | 1:33.80 (3) | 1:32.68 (2) | |||||
| Heather Mandoli • Andréanne Morin • Sarah Bonikowsky • Ashley Brzozowicz • Romina Stefancic • Buffy Williams • Darcy Marquardt • Jane Rumball • Lesley Thompson-Willie | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | 1 | Germany |  GER | 6:14.42 | 1:30.44 (2) | 3:04.37 (3) | 4:39.64 (3) | 1:33.93 (3) | 1:35.27 (4) | 1:34.78 (4) | |||||
| Christina Hennings • Katrin Reinert • Nina Wengert • Nadine Schmutzler • Lenka Wech • Maren Derlien • Nicole Zimmermann • Elke Hipler • Annina Ruppel | |||||||||||||||
Heat #2
| Time | 15:00 |
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| Pos | Lane | Competitors | NOC | Time | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 500-1,000 m | 1,000-1,500 m | 1,500-2,000 m | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Romania |  ROU | 6:05.77 | 1:28.64 (1) | 3:01.35 (1) | 4:34.15 (1) | 1:32.71 (1) | 1:32.80 (1) | 1:31.62 (3) | |||||
| Constanţa Burcică • Viorica Susanu • Rodica Şerban • Eniko Barabas • Simona Strimbeschi-Mușat • Ioana Papuc • Georgeta Andrunache • Doina Ignat • Elena Georgescu | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Netherlands |  NED | 6:07.41 | 1:29.64 (2) | 3:03.70 (2) | 4:36.70 (2) | 1:34.06 (3) | 1:33.00 (2) | 1:30.71 (1) | |||||
| Femke Dekker • Marlies Smulders • Nienke Kingma • Roline Repelaer van Driel • Annemarieke van Rumpt • Helen Tanger • Sarah Siegelaar • Annemiek de Haan • Ester Workel | |||||||||||||||
| 3 | 3 | Australia |  AUS | 6:07.93 | 1:31.04 (3) | 3:03.96 (3) | 4:37.09 (3) | 1:32.92 (2) | 1:33.13 (3) | 1:30.84 (2) | |||||
| Pauline Frasca • Brooke Pratley • Sally Kehoe • Natalie Bale • Elizabeth Kell • Kate Hornsey • Sarah Tait • Sarah Heard • Elizabeth Patrick | |||||||||||||||
Round One Repêchage
| Date | 13 August 2008 |
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| Format | Top four to A Final. |
Heat #1
| Time | 17:40 |
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Final Round
| Date | 17 August 2008 |
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Final A
| Time | 17:10 |
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