What’s Hot in Paris: U.S. Rowing takes home gold in historic win

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In an exciting day for U.S. Rowing, Team USA took home a historic gold in the men’s four early Thursday morning, winning their first gold medal since the 1960s Games in Rome.

The quad of Team USA— Michael Grady, Liam Corrigan, Justin Best, and Nick Mead— overtook New Zealand (silver) and Great Britain (bronze) in a nail-biting competition.

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Jimmy Dean, the father of Olympic rower Clark Dean who is competing in the men’s 8 on Friday, joins WFLA’s JB Biunno and Olympic champion Brooke Bennett to discuss the exciting gold-medal win today and look ahead to his son’s big competition tomorrow.

“I think the biggest misconception is that it’s like rowing a row boat or a canoe,” Jimmy Dean said. “It’s like piloting a jet plane that’s going through the water. Here’s a boat that’s 18 inches wide and it’s carrying a ton-and-a-half of human flesh and it moves at an incredible pace. And if one rower is off one micron of a moment, everything is off-kilter. These eight gentlemen must execute in a fashion that’s almost un-human.”

JB and Brooke discussed other top stories, including the greatness of swimmer Katie Ledecky and looking ahead to the women’s all-around gymnastics final which began at 12:15 p.m. ET.

To wrap up the segment, Brooke talked about her “Mount Rushmore,” her pick of the top four female Olympians of all time.

“What’s Hot in Paris” is live streamed every day throughout the Games beginning at 11 a.m. ET.

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