June 16, 2004

Steve Tucker has secured his place at the Athens Olympics.

The Mooresville, Ind., rower and teammate Greg Ruckman of Cincinnati won the lightweight double sculls Tuesday in the Olympic qualification regatta at Lucerne, Switzerland.

Tucker and Ruckman, both members of the 2000 Olympic team, had previously won at the U.S. trials. But because the United States had not yet qualified a boat in their event, they had to finish in the top four in Lucerne.

"Qualifying, that lifts the biggest weight . . . to be qualified and all done with selection," Tucker said in a statement distributed by U.S. Rowing.

The Americans finished the 2,000 meters in 6:25.59, or 2.2 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic.

Slovakia and Belgium claimed the two other Olympic spots.

"I was pretty confident with 500 or 600 meters to go, but you aren't really comfortable until you have 10 strokes to go and you could kind of coast it out if you had to," Tucker said. "We definitely pushed the whole way."

Tucker, 35, is a graduate of Culver Military Academy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He won a bronze medal in lightweight single sculls at the 2002 World Championships. He was 11th at the Sydney Olympics.