Ekaterina Karsten - Close Finish

In 2000 Karsten made her third Olympic appearance in Sydney, Australia at the age of 28. The reigning World Champion was favored to win the single scull competition, but Bulgarian Rumyana Neykova did not make it easy for her to win. Neykova led the final race until the final 300 meters when Karsten made a strong dash for the finish. The two rowers were tied with only 150 meters left in the race and they seemed to finish at the same time. The race judges had to review tapes and photos of the finish to determine the winner. "Two women waged war for just under 7½ gut-wrenching minutes yesterday, but it took three times as long to separate the victor from the vanquished," wrote Michael Horan of the Sunday Mail on September 24, 2000. After twenty-three minutes of deliberation, the judges announced that Karsten had won by only one tenth of one second. With this victory Karsten won her second consecutive Olympic gold medal for Belarus.

Karsten continued to compete internationally after the 2000 Olympics. In 2001 she won the single sculls World Cup races in Seville, Vienna, and Munich. She finished third in the single sculls World Championships in 2001 and second in 2002, where she was defeated by Neykova, her rival from the Olympics. Karsten is expected to compete in her fourth Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 2004.