The Most Dominant Team You’ve Never Heard Of: The U.S. Women’s Rowing Eight Olympic Triumph Outside the Rio Spotlight

Outside the Rio Spotlight, #12

Winning every race from one Olympics to the next is incredibly difficult. Spanning three Olympics is virtually impossible. Yet, the American women's rowing eight, after just being edged out in Athens in 2004, did the impossible. They went undefeated for eleven years, which means they came into the 2016 Olympics with a huge target on their back. Other countries were breathing down their neck, from the Canadians who grabbed the silver four years earlier to the Romanians who had once equally dominated the waters. Even worse, the cox who had helped the team win their previous two golds had moved on, and this team would be helmed by a rookie. But the "girls" in this boat, like the famous "boys" so many years earlier, had the hearts of champions and a secret weapon. They knew how to win.  (9000 words)