Romania retains women's pair gold in rowing. [Xinhua]

Romania retains the women's pair title at the Olympic rowing regatta on Saturday.

Romania retains the women's pair title at the Olympic rowing regatta on Saturday, extending the winning streak from Sydney.

This earned Romania's Georgeta Andrunache fifth and Viorica Susanu fourth Olympic gold medals.

The pair won in a time of 7 minutes and 20.60 seconds, 1.68 seconds ahead of silver medalists Wu You and Gao Yulan of China.

Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh of Belarus took bronze in 7:22.91. The Romania team led by the 1,000 meters and kept the lead till the finish line.

"We were reserved in the first part of the race. In the second part, we could not catch up with the leaders," Gao said after the race.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2008)