As the tempo of the race increased, China's duo maintained its rhythm and by the 750 meter mark the rowers had their bow in front and enough fuel in the tank to hold off a fast-charging and increasingly-threatening Australian combination over the closing stages.

Italy finished fourth, Great Britain were fifth, followed by pre-regatta favorite Poland.

It was then Italy's turn to step onto the top of the podium after the team scored a hugely impressive all-the-way win in the Mixed Coxed Fours - Legs, Trunk and Arms - the final gold medal of the regatta.

After a flying start, Italy led China through the 250 meter mark and settled into a steady race rhythm that would carry them for the rest of the 1000 meter distance.

As the Graziana Saccocci-stroked Italians consolidated through the second 250 meters, China slowed a bit, allowing Great Britain to mount a mid-race challenge. They went through the halfway mark only 3.62 seconds behind Italy, with the United States two seconds further back.

Italy responded by increasing its lead over Great Britain and the US team by two more seconds with three quarters of the race gone, and rowed so technically well that Italy was never going to be seriously challenged for the gold medal in the closing stages.

Italy crossed the line in a time of 3:33.13 minutes with the United States rallying in the final 100 meters to take silver and an exhausted Great Britain crew to the bronze medal.

Germany took fourth, China finished fifth and Canada was sixth.

Earlier in the day the B-finals in all four boat classes were also run to determine rowers finishing in the seventh to 12th positions.

Agnese Moro of Italy took the B-final of the Women's Single Scull - Arms after a tenacious battle for the full 1000m with Pascale Bercovitch of Israel, while Patrick Laureau of France held off a fast-finishing Italian Simone Miramonti to win the Men's Single Sculls - Arms by a margin of 1.57 seconds.

The B-final of the Mixed Double Sculls - Trunk and Arms was taken out by the US combination of Angela Madsen and Scott Brown who scored a comfortable 7.45 second victory over Ukranians Sergii Dereza and Iryna Kyrychenko, while the Luciano Pires-stroked Brazil took out the B-final of the Men's Coxed Four - LTA by 1.54 seconds over South Africa's team.

(BOCOG September 11, 2008)