Brits strike gold again
THE rowers added to Great Britain’s medal rush with oar-some gold and silver gongs.
After the women’s eights came second in Rio – their first ever medal in the event – their male counterparts went one better.
It took Team GB’s medal haul to eight golds, 24 medals in total, keeping us third in the table behind the USA and China.
And Brits are set for more success in the coming week.
Tennis ace Andy Murray goes for gold this afternoon as he bids to become the first man to defend the Olympic title.
He brushed aside the world No.7, Japan’s Kei Nishikori, beating him 6-1 6-4. In the rowing, the women held off a strong challenge from Romania to clinch silver by just 12 hundredths of a second at Lagoa Stadium.
The crew of Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Polly Swann, Jessica Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Karen Bennett and Zoe Lee could not reel in favourites USA, who won their third title in a row.
Swann said: “At 500m to go I thought we were going to win.
“I believed with every stroke we had what it took. It does not take away from this silver – it is incredible.
“These girls are strong, sassy, inspirational and I am so proud of them.”
Minutes later the men’s eight won gold – their fourth out of the last five Olympics – easing to victory more than a second ahead of Germany.
Pete Reed, collecting his third Olympic gold, said: “I can’t put it into words. We’ve never been so ready. They’re an amazing bunch of guys.” The crew was also made up of Tom Ransley, Matt Gotrel, Paul Bennett, Scott Durant, Matt Langridge, Andrew Triggs Hodge and Will Satch.
UK Sport chiefs have set Team GB a target of 48 medals by the end of the Games next Sunday.
Elsewhere, sprint king Usain Bolt breezed through in the heats of the 100m.
The Jamaican star, aiming to expand his gold tally to nine, won in 10.07 seconds but barely broke a sweat.