Olympic rowing: Great Britain win men’s eight gold and women’s eight bronze at Paris 2024 Olympics
Great Britain powered to a thrilling gold in the men’s eight and bronze in the women’s race, as the rowing team surpassed their previous best medal haul for an overseas Olympics.
The men traded the lead with the Netherlands before surging ahead in the third quarter of the 2,000m race.
The Netherlands tried to fight back but the British boat rose to the challenge and won by 1.08 seconds in five minutes and 22.8 seconds.
Cox Harry Brightmore and Sholto Carnegie in the bow seat climbed to their feet and roared with delight after winning the GB squad’s eighth medal in France.
The crew of Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin and Tom Ford – plus their motivator-in-chief Brightmore – are now European, world and Olympic champions.
But such was the effort required that Bolding and Gibbs needed medical attention before the medal ceremony.
“How can you put into words something that you’ve always dreamed of? It’s pretty epic,” said Dawson after receiving his medal.
Ford’s gold came just 20 minutes after his younger sister Emily won bronze in the women’s race.
Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Holly Dunford, Ford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Harriet Taylor and Annie Campbell-Orde – coxed by Henry Fieldman – battled all the way to the line to finish behind champions Romania and Tokyo winners Canada.
“I saw about the last five strokes of Tom’s race, the most important, said Emily.
“I’m really proud Tom’s achieved gold, but also super-proud of what we’ve done to get on the podium as we’ve overcome so much in the past few months with injuries and other things.”
Fieldman, who steered the men’s eight to bronze in Tokyo, made history by becoming the first person to win an Olympic medal in both men’s and women’s events.
The women’s bronze is only Britain’s second medal in the event after their silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and comes after they failed to make the final in Tokyo.
However, the men have now won medals in the eights at five consecutive Games, including gold in Rio in 2016.
The successes mean Britain finish the rowing competition with a record haul for an overseas Games, and their best tally since London 2012, where they won nine on home water.
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