Great Britain claimed three medals in rowing at the Olympics on Thursday morning, but Helen Glover just missed out on a gold medal hat-trick in Paris.
Glover was denied a third Olympic title as Team GB were agonisingly edged out in a dramatic women’s four final by the Netherlands.
Glover, a mother-of-three, won pairs gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016 before taking four years out of the sport ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, where she finished fourth in the women’s pair. She then took 12 months off after those Games prior to announcing her return.
Alongside Rebecca Shorten, Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave, the 38-year-old helped the British crew gradually close the gap on the Netherlands after a fast start from the Dutch.
It was anyone’s race with 500 metres to go with the two crews neck and neck, and Britain looked as if they would just get the upper hand as they pushed for glory.
The Netherlands held on to cross the line in six minutes 27.31 seconds – 0.18secs ahead of the British boat.
“I think today we put it all out there,” Glover said.
“We raced the plan we wanted to race, we raced together with so much heart. You know what, there can’t be regret looking back and knowing you did all you can.
“I think no matter how we do, they (family and friends) are the people we go back to who love us no matter what. So it’s really nice to have everyone out there and everyone who’s supported us from near and far.”
The women’s four silver followed on from a British bronze in the women’s double sculls.
Team GB win Bronze in Women’s double sculls
Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne, in lane two, went out hard from the start and led at the 500m mark with Romania taking over by halfway.
New Zealand eventually moved into pole position for gold to edge out Romania, but Wilde and Hodgkins Byrne staved off a late challenge from the Netherlands to take bronze.
It was quite an achievement for the pair to win medals as Wilde had surgery on her forearms 10 months ago and Hodgkins Byrne took time away from the sport after Tokyo 2020 to have her son Freddie, now two.
Hodgkins Byrne said: “Secretly to ourselves, we were determined to try and get on the podium and that’s what we’ve done.”
Wilde added: “Mathilda has been such a great woman to have in the bow. I have learned so much and I just know if I do my job, push as hard as I can, she will get me over the line.”
GB reach 20 medal mark with men’s four third-place finish
Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson had to settle for bronze in the men’s four
The quartet of Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson produced a patient race, coming right through most of the field after a watchful start.
The British crew swept past Italy 800 metres from home into third place, eventually settling for bronze with the United States taking gold and New Zealand silver.
Swiatek crashes out of women’s singles
There was a huge shock in the women’s singles tennis as Iga Swiatek was beaten in straight sets by Qinwen Zheng.
The four-time French Open champion lost 6-2 7-5 in the semi-finals and now China’s Zheng will face Slovakia’s Anna KarolÃna Schmiedlova or Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the final.
Meanwhile, Team GB’s Katie Boulter was unable to give herself the perfect birthday present as her bid for an Olympic medal alongside Heather Watson ended with a quarter-final loss to Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.
It always looked an uphill task against the third seeds, who reached the French Open final earlier this summer, and Boulter and Watson were decisively second best in a 6-3 6-1 defeat.
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