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Helen Glover hinted her glittering rowing career is over after being denied a third Olympic title by the wafer-thin margin of 0.18 seconds.
Just 24 hours after Team GB women’s quadruple sculls crew claimed gold by the margin of 0.15secs, Glover, Rebecca Shorten, Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave were on the wrong side of a race to the line as the Netherlands held on in a thrilling finale.
Glover, who won pairs gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016 with Heather Stanning, took four years out of the sport before the Tokyo Olympics to start a family with her husband Steve Backshall, the naturalist, explorer and TV presenter.
She took another 12 months off after those Games before deciding to come back for more in the women’s four boat, despite now being a mother of three and trying to balance family commitments with rowing.
“Half the team think I’ll carry on, but I don’t plan to carry on,” said Glover, 38, whose children and husband were among the crowd at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
“My focus has been on crossing the finish line and then we’ll see.
“Right now I just want to spend time with my family and enjoy being mum.
“I’m not really thinking about rowing and I’ll take my time to reflect on the Olympics.
“It’s been totally different (build-up to Paris 2024) as my world doesn’t revolve around rowing or results.
“My world revolves around my kids, and this is just a really awesome extra I get to do.”
The British crew conceded early water to the Netherlands, with the world champions signalling their intentions from the start.
Pressure was gradually applied on the Dutch and it was anyone’s race with 500 metres remaining.
The two went stroke for stroke in the final 250 with the Netherlands holding on to win in six minutes 27.13secs and New Zealand nearly two seconds behind Britain in third.
“As far as our internal plan was concerned it went to plan and we did what we could,” said Glover, who would have become the first British woman to win three Olympic rowing golds.
“We all have to hold our heads high that we raced with heart and should be pretty proud coming away with a medal.
“You never think you have it won, but both crews would have believed the whole way that they could.
“You have to expect fine margins when you race the best in the world.
“We felt we raced every stroke we could and for these guys to win their first Olympic medal is a massive achievement.”
The men’s four were also on the podium with Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson collecting bronze.
Brushing off a sedate start that left them at the back, the British crew gradually moved into the medal positions with 800 metres to go.
The United States held off New Zealand in a frantic fight for gold, with Britain over three seconds down on the winning boat.
Davidson said: “It’s been a great group of guys racing the fours in this Olympiad.
“The fours field is a savage field and it seems to have got more and more savage as we have gone through the Olympiad, so I’m just glad we have got ourselves onto the podium.”
