Is the Romanian Olympic Rowing Team playing Games with their entries?

Romania is the only country besides the U.S. to have qualified 12 (of a possible 14) boats for the Olympic regatta, but unlike the U.S. crews, which have been named and entered, the Romanians seem to be engaging in some gamesmanship with their Olympic rowing line-ups.

Romania’s national team has a reputation among Olympic coaches for saying they’ll race at certain regattas or particular events, and then doing something different. By not entering athletes that double-up, the national team retains the credentials, and then can change up to 50 percent of a crew.

Here at the Paris Olympics, they’ve switched an athlete in both their men’s and women’s pairs and half the crew of their men’s and women’s fours, between the official entries of July 12 and the entries shown on the day of the draw, two days before racing begins on Saturday, July 27.

The level of concern raised to the point of it leading the agenda of the team managers meeting. The international governing body, World Rowing, has posted its rules for athlete replacement, along with the more stringent Olympic rules for “Late Athlete Replacement” on its website, with a comparison chart. World Rowing knows its Rules of Racing are lenient on the matter, and an official said off the record that they need to be updated. But those rules have been for situations involving injury, not gamesmanship.

“In the end, it doesn’t matter,” says Josy Verdonkschot, the U.S. Olympic rowing chief coach. “We’ll be fast and see if anybody is faster.”

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