Olympics-Rowing-Argentine crews grab second chance to make lightweight sculls semis
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By Philip O'Connor
PARIS, July 29 (Reuters) -Argentina made a little bit of history at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on Monday as both the country's lightweight double sculls crews made the Olympic semi-finals for the first time.
With Monday's morning rowing programme mostly made up of repechages and semi-finals for those eliminated from the main single sculls competitions, both Argentinian lightweight crews secured third-place finishes to progress to the semis and keep their Olympic medal hopes alive.
"We are very proud, it's amazing to be here and to have accomplished this goal. We are very, very happy," a beaming Sonia Baluzzo Chiarruzzo told Reuters after she and Evelyn Silvestro finished behind Ireland and Canada to secure their semi-final berth.
"(The secret was) to row together, to row as synchronized as possible and to race like there was nothing to lose and all to gain," Chiaruzzo added.
Perhaps inspired by their female teammates, Alejandro Colomino and Pedro Dickson cruised home almost six seconds ahead of Chile to grab their spot in the men's semi-finals, which take place on Wednesday.
With only the winners going through, direct qualification places were at a premium in each of the two eights heats for men and women.
The USA and Britain grabbed the victories in the men's races and the Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Australia and Italy all headed for the repechage on Thursday.
On the women's side, Britain and Romania cruised into the final, while Australia, Canada, Denmark, the USA and Italy will all have another chance on Thursday.
The British team has spent the first few days watching their teammates compete, and they were delighted to finally get out on the water themselves.
"We are a really close team and we can get confidence from the other crews. Watching the quad and the four and the lightweight doubles earlier in the week just walk away in the third 500 (metres) gave us a confidence in our legs that we could do the same," eights rower Heidi Long told Reuters.
"There's definitely pros and cons to racing last, but it's really great to get the first place under our belts."
Reporting by Philip O'Connor
Editing by Christina Fincher and Andrew Heavens
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