Team GB have a 10th gold medal at Paris 2024 thanks to a dominant display from the men’s eight crew.
Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charles Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox Harry Brightmore took the lead at halfway and held on to defeat the Netherlands by just over a second.
The United States finished in bronze medal position.
With Great Britain not having a rower in the final event, they end the regatta with eight medals – three gold, two silver and three bronze – after only managing two in Tokyo three years ago.
In the women’s eight, the Team GB claimed bronze after a gripping battle with Canada for second place.
Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford, Emily Ford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Harriet Taylor, Annie Campbell-Orde, alongside cox Henry Fieldman, fought with Canada for much of the race but were narrowly edged out.
Romania pulled more than four seconds clear in the second half of the 2000m course to claim gold.
After the race, brother and sister Emily and Tom Ford embraced. It’s the first time since 1908 that a brother and sister have won medals at the same Olympics for Team GB.
“It was one hell of a ride back at the end of the boat. We knew the start would be close – the American guys giving it a quite a lot of shouting on the start line, which we were ready for,” said Brightmore, 30.
“We knew exactly what they were going to do, and we just executed it perfectly.
“That was a bit of a sprint to the death, we just took it by the scruff of the neck and you can’t really ask for much more. These guys, they did it perfectly. I’m really really proud of them. I’m trying to not cry.”
“It was a game plan that worked as the British crew’s rhythmic rowing and pacing prevented the Dutch and Americans from closing the gap, leaving them to battle for second place,” added 29-year-old Carnegie.
“It’s a long wait. We were last to go down the track. Just seeing everyone else get their medals, you’ve got to learn from it, things they did really well. But there was was a lot of time where we just wanted to get racing.
“But in Tokyo, I was one of the first to race. And we didn’t go as well as we wanted to. I spent the whole week afterwards, wishing I could have that moment before the race back where I could get to do it again. As a group, we’ve managed to do that.
“We’ve stuck together, we’ve worked so hard over this period. We’ve really bought into Stevie [coach Steve Trapmore]. Amazing training camps. I can’t thank the National Lottery enough for everything they do to us to support us and make this all happen. It hasn’t sunk in, I can’t really believe it.”
In the women’s race, Team GB tried to squeeze Canada in the final 250 but finished 0.67secs down on the reigning Olympic champions.
“The whole way we just trusted the process and we’ve really learned to have belief in ourselves. That’s exactly what we did,” Ford said.
“This medal is more than just us lot standing here and us lot in the boat. It’s the people past and present, our friends and family, all our support network. So thank you for that. Anyone that’s got any ambition, go out there and believe in yourself and do it.”
Campbell-Orde added: “It was quite breathless, actually. I was really trying to focus on what Henry was saying at the time, because if I thought about the whole 2km, it was almost a bit overwhelming.
“He said to do the best of our ability, and I think we did that at that moment on that day.”
How to follow the Olympics on Sky
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Alongside live news blogs and updates as records are broken and medals won on skysports.com and the Sky Sports app, Sky Sports News will also have dedicated reporters on the scene in Paris during the Games to gather the latest news both inside and outside the arenas in France as well as reaction to the big moments from medal winners, coaches, relatives and pundits.
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Source : Sky Sports
