a 6th at the Lucerne World Cup. At the Aiguebelette World Championships they finished 12th meaning they had to race at the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta to win a spot at Rio. At the Lucerne FOQR they grabbed the 4th and final qualifying place beating Russia by 2 seconds. After the FOQR they raced at the Poznan World Cup taking 7th . Elder sister, Anna, studied at the University of Southern California and helped them take a bronze medal at the PAC-10 championships in 2011. Rio will be a great first experience of the Olympics for the Poles, but I would anticipate a C-Final placing for this young crew.

Romania

Elena-Lavinia Tarlea 23 & Laura Oprea 23

Olympic record: 2016 Olympic debut

World Championship record

Tarlea: 5th U23 W4- 2012, 7th U23 W4-2013, 4th U23 W2- 2014, 7th U23 W4- 2015

Oprea: 4th W8 2014, 4th W2- 2014, 7th W2- 2015

2016 record

Tarlea: None

Oprea: 3rd W2- European Championships, 1st W8 Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta, 3rd W2- Poznan World Cup.

Romania have won this event more than any other nation, taking gold in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2004 and 2008. In more recent years the dominance of the Romanian women has started to wane, surpassed by the Americans in the W8 and the British and New Zealanders in the W2-, indeed the Romanians have not won a medal in the W2- at a World Championships since taking silver in Chungju in 2013. The crew following on from these greats in 2016 are a new combination that will make their competitive debut in Rio. For 23