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The stars show up on the Schuylkill

Saturday morning at the St. Joseph's Boathouse, Damir Martin did a little photo op, acting as if he was taking a saw to the bow ball of his great rowing rival, Mahe Drysdale.

Saturday morning at the St. Joseph's Boathouse, Damir Martin did a little photo op, acting as if he was taking a saw to the bow ball of his great rowing rival, Mahe Drysdale.

The joke?

The men's single sculling race in Rio goes down as one of the great ones in history, the closest final in Olympic history. A dead heat to the hundredth of a second - which is as far as rowing races are usually timed. But judges determined that Drysdale's bow ball was microscopically ahead on a photo. Officially, Drysdale beat Martin by 5/1000th of a second.

Both were on the Schuylkill on Saturday. Between the masters rowers and club rowers and college rowers and high schoolers all competing at this weekend's Head of the Schuylkill, the best single scullers in the world, most newly crowned Olympic medalists, raced 750 meters for the richest prize in the sport.

This time, Martin didn't have to wait for a photo. This time he earned a $10,000 first prize. Olympic bronze medalist Kjetil Borch earned $5,000 for second,  Martin Sinkovic of Croatia took $2,000 for third, and Drysdale, as he kind of predicted, earned $1,000 for fourth.

In the women's race, the Olympic form held at the top, with Australia's Kim Brennan taking first as she did in Rio, earning her $10,000. The $5,000 went to Emma Twigg of New Zealand, who came in fourth in Rio. Gevvie Stone, the top American in Rio, took third and $2,000, with Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland taking the $1,000 for fourth.

"It's definitely one of the reasons we're all here,'' Stone said. "It's prestigious to be named to the event, and pretty nice to have that bonus."

Brennan pointed out that she didn't get any prize money for winning in Rio.

"It's more a suggestion that people appreciate what we're doing,'' Brennan said.

While Damir Martin mentioned that "99 percent of rowers" think there should have been two gold medals awarded, "it's really a pleasure . . . one of my childhood dreams came true. I left a mark in rowing. I always look for leaving marks, footprints after me."

Drysdale said, "To be involved in that is pretty special. I have a lot of respect for him and I think it goes both ways. Obviously it's hard that one of us got a gold medal and the other got a silver. Unfortunately, that's racing and it's something that I think will be special between us for the rest of our lives, knowing we were involved in such a battle."

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus