Erin Cafaro, who rowed at Cal from 2002-06, became the third former Golden Bear to capture a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic games Thursday morning. The 2006 Cal grad joined Mary Whipple, Caryn Davies, Caroline Lind, Eleanor Logan, Meghan Musnicki, Taylor Ritzel, Esther Lofgren and Susan Francia as the women's eight cruised to the finish line in a time of 6:10.59 to beat second-place Canada (6:12.06) and third-place The Netherlands (6:13.12).

For Cafaro and the U.S. women's eight, it was their second-straight Olympic gold medal after also winning in Beijing in 2008.

She had qualified for the '12 Games in the pairs, but turned down her seat in order to pursue a return to the women's eight boat.

Cafaro was a major part of Cal's rowing success having been a part of the varsity eight boats on the 2005 and 2006 national championship teams for the Bears.

The achievement was the fourth gold medal overall for Cal athletes in the 2012 Olympic games. Dana Vollmer has captured two gold medals so far in London, winning the 100 butterfly on Saturday and swimming the second leg on the winning 800 freestyle relay team on Wednesday. Nathan Adrian took gold in the 100 freestyle on Wednesday.

For a full recap of today's Olympic action involving Golden Bears, check CalBears.com/Olympics later this evening.