Rowers have certainly played their part in Team GB’s most successful opening Olympic week. Boats flew over water, tears flowed off the water and more British athletes celebrated on the podium than ever before.
The outstanding performance of the regatta came from Imogen Grant and Emily Craig, who led their lightweight double sculls final from start to finish. Their story began in Tokyo where they set a world-best time in the semi-final but finished fourth in the final by 0.01 seconds.
Their determined response to hold their heads high and take pride in their Tokyo performance, while others described the heartbreak, helped them move on, driven but not defined by the experience. Since then, they have been unbeaten in international competition and will remain reigning champions in eternity as the event is cut from Los Angeles 2028 (where beach sprint rowing will feature as part of moves to spice up the sport).
History was also made by the women’s quadruple sculls of Georgina Brayshaw, Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry, winning with a defiant surge on the final stroke. It was the first time Team GB has won that event and turned the page on Tokyo where no crews won gold and no women won medals.
If you shoot for the moon, sometimes you land among the stars. That was the story for several Team GB crews who raced to win, showed bravery and demonstrated the willingness to take risks that is essential to have a chance of the top spot, knowing that inherent in those risks is the chance they may not always pay off.
The men’s pair of Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith rowed with commitment and courage, doing everything to step up as they produced their best race of the Olympiad. There were others out to make history in that race, the Sinkovic brothers from Croatia sealing their third successive Olympic title in a spectacular final sprint.
Britain reached the podium in the women’s coxless fours for the first time. After a close fourth in Tokyo, the Paris crew of Rebecca Shorten, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Helen Glover took the next step, finishing second by a bowball to the classy Dutch.
Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne won a joyous bronze in the women’s double sculls after sealing one of the final Olympic qualification spots in June. Their fearless racing, taking on the best in the world after just a few months together was liberating to watch. It also meant both the mothers in the team, Hodgkins Byrne and Glover, won medals. That it’s possible in a team sport with centralised, high-volume training is a huge step forward.
Similarly joyous were the eights on the final day with the women winning bronze, a giant step up from last place in Tokyo and then the men’s eight ended the regatta with a magnificent gold.
The chat in the crowds has been about how to master those thrilling final sprints. Which countries’ crews were best prepared? What’s the secret? The bulk of training is spent building up vast stores of endurance to sustain power as the oxygen deficit kicks in, with sprints honed in the final weeks.
Coaches and analysts will be crunching the numbers: rates of strokes per minute, stroke lengths and technique from the past week’s thrillers for new insights to take into the next Olympiad. With the rowing shortened to 1500m due to the Long Beach venue confirmed for Los Angeles, we are going to see sprinting in rowing taken to another level over the next few years.
Peaking at the Olympics requires each crew to find its own unique alchemy of power, technique, pacing, tactics, crew vibe and confidence. To get that right for every crew that raced a final is an incredible achievement by the coaching team that has reshaped itself since Tokyo. Led by the performance director, Louise Kingsley, they have prepared a greater number of athletes in more boat classes than ever to reach the highest levels.
The Dutch have been on storming form and top the rowing medal table, with Team GB second. It has been a surprise to see Australia bringing up the rear of so many races.
The conditions on the lake have been fantastic, the stands packed and in good voice and the full gamut of emotions flowed throughout the week for Britons who wrote a vibrant new chapter of rowing history.
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