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Silver and Gold

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Andrew Byrnes 鈥�05 and his Canadian rowing teammates added a silver medal to the gold they won at the 2008 Games.

The big effort came after the Canadian men鈥檚 eight had finished a very poor fourth of four boats in their preliminary heat. The team鈥檚 mood was 鈥渄ark, a hard place to come back from,鈥� Byrnes told The Globe and Mail.

In the final, the Canadians changed tactics, sitting back then launching their bid, overtaking Great Britain in the final quarter of the Aug. 1 race and finishing second to Germany.

鈥淲e knew the Germans were going to be a tough nut to crack,鈥� Byrnes says. 鈥淥ur race plan was focusing on the crews we know we鈥檙e faster than. Outracing the Brits and Aussies put us up there with the Germans.鈥�

In an email, Byrnes writes, 鈥淲e were more controlled and counted on having a strong pace through the whole race. It was an exciting moment when we could smell the finish and started clawing back.鈥� 鈥斅燞JB