Gold For Hannah Scott

It might not have been the same as running 100 yards as time expired to win rugby bronze, like the United States women did Tuesday. 

Then again, in rowing terms, it might have been.

The Olympic women's quadruple sculls race stated at 6:28 yesterday morning. By 6:30, it looked like the Netherlands was going to win. 

And at 6:31. And 6:32. And 6:33. And even at 6:34. 

It wasn't until a little past 6:34 when things changed. TigerBlog has never seen a more thrilling crew race.

In the end, the team from Great Britain edged just ahead at the wire, nipping the Dutch in a photo finish. The British won despite trailing for the entirety of the 2,000 meters.

And if you're wondering what the difference between sculling and rowing is, in sculling, all of the rowers are pulling two oars, as opposed to one in rowing.

If you didn't already know it, the team from Great Britain featured Hannah Scott, a 2021 Princeton grad. She becomes Princeton's first medalist in these Olympic Games.

She also joins an exclusive list of Princeton women who have won Olympic gold, which now stands at five athletes: rower Caroline Lind, water polo player Ashleigh Johnson and ice hockey players Sarah Fillier and Claire Thompson.

Scott earned her gold in an extraordinary way. How thrilling was it? 

The announcers, two British men, had basically given up on their country's chances of winning. And why wouldn't they? 

If you look at the splits, you'll see that the Netherlands led by 1.31 seconds after 500 meters, 1.16 seconds after 1,000 and 1.10 seconds after 1,500. Even with only a few meters left, the Netherlands boat was still ahead.

And then it changed on a dime. Suddenly, instead of talking about the certainty of a win by the Netherlands, one of the two blokes on the call went into Paul Revere mode and shouted "The Brits are coming! The Brits are coming!"

Oh, by the way, this has absolutely nothing to do with the rowing. There was a British announcer who was on the call for the USA-Italy women's water polo match. The end of the first quarter saw about a five minute delay to decide if there should be 0.4 seconds put back on the clock, which wouldn't result in any serious scoring opportunity. Despite that, the delay went on and on — which led the announcer to say "I think I was 25 years old when they started looking at the VAR." Now that's quality broadcasting.

Even then it didn't like there was enough time to get to the finish first. And yet, that's exactly what happened.

Shockingly, the front of the British boat nudged across the line first. The reactions were amazing — the sheer joy of the British when they realized they won, the agonized looks from the Dutch when they realized they had not and then the huge relief from the Germans, who edged out the other boats to get bronze.

This was one of the most incredible displays of reaction at the end of a sporting event that TB has ever seen. 

If winning the gold wasn't enough for British, their medals were then presented to them by none other than Princess Anne, whose brother is King Charles. She is a former Olympian herself, in the equestrian.

By the end of the medal ceremony, all three boats and 12 rowers came together on the stage to be photographed together. There were smiles all around by this point.

As TB watched, he could see the British rowers motion to Princess Anne to join the pictures. She declined, seemingly politely. Was it because of protocol? Was it because the moment belonged to the athletes? 

Either way, TB admired that the rowers offered her to be there with her in the first place. Congratulations to Hannah Scott for being part of such an extraordinary day, and for coming away with gold.

Princeton will go for more rowing medals today.

Here's the complete #PrincetonInParis schedule for Aug. 1:

Claire Collins (USA) - Women’s Eight Repechage (4:10 a.m.)
Emily Kallfelz & Kelsey Reelick (USA) - Women’s Four Final (B - 4:54 a.m., A - 5:50 a.m.)
Tim Masters (Australia) - Men’s Four Olympic Final (6:10 a.m.)
Nick Mead (USA) - Men’s Four Olympic Final (6:10 a.m.)
Maia Weintraub (USA) - Women’s Team Foil (Round of 8 through medal round; 5:50 a.m. start)
Sabrina Fang (CAN) - Women’s Team Foil (Round of 8 through medal round; 5:50 a.m. start)
Beth Yeager (USA) - Field Hockey vs. Great Britain (11 a.m.)
Kareem Maddox (USA) - 3x3 Basketball vs. Lithuania (1:05 p.m.)
Kareem Maddox (USA) - 3x3 Basketball vs. Latvia (5:05 p.m.)