Olympic Rowing 2024 | Women’s Heavyweight Double – Bronze Medal Profile

How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart? 

In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.

The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.

Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.

The Stats

Country

Romania

Crew Names

Ancuta Bodnar (B)

Andrada Maria Morosanu (S)

Average Age

24 years

Olympic Record

First in the W2x at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (Bodnar)

2024 Competitive Record

World Rowing Cup 1: N/A

World Rowing Cup 2: N/A

World Rowing Cup 3: 4^th (W2x – Morosanu)

European Championships: 3^rd (W2x – Bodnar) and 4^th (W1x -Morosanu)

The Profile

This was one of the biggest selection surprises when the entries were announced. The double of Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis were the defending world and Olympic Champions and had only been beaten once in five years. However, after being pushed into third at the European championships this season, the Romanians have taken the decision to break this partnership up. Radis moves into the women’s eight and Morosanu steps into the double. Morosanu was U23 world champion in the BW2X in 2022 and 2023 plus she made her senior debut last season, racing in the quad that finished sixth at the world championships in Belgrade. This season, she raced in the single at the Europeans, just missing the podium. At the final World Rowing Cup, she raced in the double with Iulia Balauca, finishing fourth. It’s going to be really interesting to see if this late selection change is a stroke of genius, or is sacrificing a possible gold in the double strengthing their chances in the women’s eight?

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