Great Britain made it two from two in the Rowing at the Lagoa stadium. 

Great Britain had already won four golds in previous Olympics at this event and was looking to make it five. 

The Great British team came into the final as the second pair and was then given lane three ahead of the fastest qualifiers Australia in lane four. South Africa the third fastest were in lane one. The Canadian's was in lane five, current world champions Italy in lane one and the Netherlands in lane six. 

Great Britain's make it five golds for coxless four 

The Great British team got off to a good start. In the opening 200m, they were ahead of Australia in lane four. 

At the checkpoint of 500m, the British team were ahead in a time of 1:27:36 with the Australian's just 0.83 seconds behind. The Australian's who was looking to beat the British were starting to claw back the time. 

As the teams went through the 750m mark, the two teams were unable to be separated with Great Britain narrowly ahead and being made to work for it constantly. In third place, the South Africans were going strong. 

Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis of Great Britain compete in the Men's Four Final (Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis of Great Britain compete in the Men's Four Final (Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

But as the teams reached the halfway point, Great Britain and Australia were still neck and neck with only 0.22 seconds in it. In third place, South Africa was going well. They were 3.66 seconds behind the British who was in a battle with the Aussies. 

With the race coming down to the last 500m, usually where races are won and lost, Great Britain had crossed the lane in 4:30:09, with Australia 1:30 seconds further back.

The final 500m they just stretched away, with such a long, languid stroke giving them the gold.

They won in 5.58.61, finishing 1:83 seconds clear of Australia who take the silver medal. The third place was won by Italy who overtaken the South African's who ended in fourth Fifth place went to Netherlands, sixth place to Canada, seventh to the USA and eighth to Greece

VAVEL Logo
About the author