New Zealand Jewish rower Nathan Cohen wins Olympic gold

New Zealand's Nathan Cohen, left, and Joseph Sullivan at the 2012 Olympic Games on Aug. 2. Photo by REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

New Zealand won its first gold medal of the London Olympics when rowers Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan took first place in the men’s double sculls event.

Cohen, who is Jewish, previously won gold in the men’s double sculls event in both the 2010 and 2011 World Rowing Championships. He also is the first person from the Southland region of New Zealand to win a medal at the Olympics, reported Algemeiner.

The team on Thursday broke the Olympic best time in the heats and produced a late surge to overtake Italy with 200 meters left. They won with a time of 6 minutes, 31.67 seconds, reported the Washington Post.

The gold medalists finished ahead of the Italian team’s Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti by 1:13 seconds. Slovenian 2000 Olympic champions and 2004 silver medalists Luka Spik and Iztok Cop came in third.