Britain wins men's eight rowing gold in Paris Olympics, as women take bronze
3 August 2024, 12:43
Britain has won the rowing gold in the men's eight competition at the Olympics, with the women taking the bronze.
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World champions Morgan Bolding, Sholto Carnegie, Jacob Dawson, Tom Digby, Charlie Elwes, Tom Ford, Rory Gibbs and James Rudkin withstood challenges from the Netherlands and the United States to win in five minutes, 22.88 seconds.
Britain and the Netherlands both started strongly and were neck and neck at the halfway stage after 1,000 metres.
The double European and double world champions during this Olympic cycle broke clear over the next 500, completing a victory to beat the Dutch by over one second.
Meanwhile the women's eight finished third behind Romania, who are the world champions, and Canada, who were previously the champions at the last Olympics.
The British crew of Annie Campbell-Orde, Holly Dunford, Emily Ford, Lauren Irwin, Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Eve Stewart and Hattie Taylor finished in a time of five minutes 59.51 seconds.
Romania forced the pace from the start and never looked like being caught.
Britain tried to squeeze Canada in the final 250 but finished 0.67secs down on their competitors.
The Paris Olympics have seen Britain's rowers perform much better than in Tokyo, where they only managed two medals - neither of them gold.
In 2021, the rowers finished 14th in the medal table.
But in 2024, the British rowers have won three golds, two silvers and three bronzes.
That has seen them come finish in the rowing medal table behind the Netherlands, who have won four golds.
