British women edge out Dutch to win gold in quadruple sculls drama

PARIS – Britain pulled off a stunning victory with the last stroke of their oars to win Olympic gold in the women’s quadruple sculls final at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on July 31, beating the Netherlands in a thrilling finale.

Minutes after their men had won gold in their final, the Dutch looked set to add a second but after a titanic struggle the British foursome pulled themselves across the line with one last big effort to win by 0.15 of a second, with Germany third.

“It feels like we’ve spent ages working towards this,” said an emotional British rower Lola Anderson.

“You get to the end of the cycle and you never expect to experience this (dramatic ending) and it is quite overwhelming.

“I know my dad (who died of cancer in 2019) would be so, so proud. I am thinking a lot about him.”

Her teammate Hannah Scott added: “It’s been a long time in the making and I can’t believe it.

“The crew today have been amazing – we kept our cool to the end. We went for it and it came off.”

The Netherlands appeared to have comfortably dealt with the British challenge from the midway point of the race, but Britain – whose quartet includes Lauren Henry and Georgina Brayshaw – somehow found the energy to mount a last desperate challenge to stun the Dutch at the finish line with a 6min 16.31sec timing.

It was Britain’s first gold in the event and is also redemption for their seventh-place finish in Tokyo three years ago, while they failed to qualify for Rio 2016.

“We got to 250 (metres) to go and I could sense we were coming back, so I was like, ‘Guys, now, we’re going now’,” Henry said. “And then I called it again with about 150 to go, I was like, ‘We can do this’.

“I kind of knew we’d crossed the line first but we had to wait to see, and when I saw ‘GBR, 1’ come up it was amazing.”

Earlier, reigning men’s champions Netherlands successfully retained their Olympic title with a tremendous display of power and control that won them the gold medal, with Italy second and Poland third.

The Dutch men’s crew took an early lead in their final but were quickly reined in by the rest of the field before edging in front again with the Italian, Polish and British teams close behind.

They rowed smoothly to open up a lead of just over half a length that they never relinquished and they won in 5:42.00, 2.4sec ahead of Italy.

Elsewhere in diving, China’s Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi won gold in the women’s synchronised 10m platform event. The pair established their lead in the first round and totalled 359.10 points.

North Korea’s Jo Jin Mi and Kim Mi Rae took silver (315.90) and Britain’s Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson ended up with bronze (304.38).

Quan and Chen, both second-time Olympians, won the synchronised gold medal for the first time as a pair. But their victory came as little surprise given Quan, 17, and Chen, 18, have won three world championships since teaming up in 2022.

Quan was pleasantly surprised when her compatriot, ski champion Eileen Gu, 20, showed up at their press conference.

Gu, who won two gold medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, walked up to the stage to congratulate them, saying that it is an “eye-opener” to learn from Summer Olympic athletes. AFP, REUTERS