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on your flags now? I think John will not let this go. They are | :00:02. | :00:11. | |
determined to win this one. Well I believe that to you. -- leave that | :00:11. | :00:20. | |
to you. Here is what is coming up. We're heading back to Eton Dorney | :00:20. | :00:26. | |
for three finals. First up is the men's doubles sculls with Bill | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
Lucas and Sam Townsend. Their first season together. | :00:33. | :00:42. | |
Then the Lightweight Men's Four. Expect a close race in this one. | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
And the Women's Eight, we will hope that the cheers of the home crowd | :00:46. | :00:56. | |
can't spread them on in their final. -- can spur them on. | :00:56. | :01:02. | |
And a bit of tennis, it is quarter- final time today for Andy Murray as | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
he takes on Nicolas Almagro at 12 o'clock. You can watch that on BBC | :01:07. | :01:14. | |
Three. And the big guns are back, Victoria Pendleton and Chris Foy | :01:14. | :01:22. | |
among us the names on the track for the first time tonight. A very busy | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
day around the Olympic Park and at Eton Dorney. But yesterday around | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
this time was when Helen Glover and Heather Stanning crossed the finish | :01:30. | :01:36. | |
line to become Great Britain's first Olympic champions of 2012. It | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
:01:46. | :01:56. | ||
of your lives. It is not going to be any other time, you have to | :01:56. | :02:06. | |
:02:06. | :02:24. | ||
produce it now. Brilliant! | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
I was sitting behind Heather and I said, I cannot believe it. We did | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
it. It is a proud moment for the whole family. If you work hard and | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
try your best, absolutely anyone try your best, absolutely anyone | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
can do anything. Just incredible scenes from all | :02:43. | :02:48. | |
over the world. Those pictures also from Camp Bastion cheering on their | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
captain. But there is a lot of sacrifice that goes into these | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
Olympic medals. Not just the training and the hours put in but | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
also the family and friends and the support that goes along with that. | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
And that is the beauty of the home games, having that support so close. | :03:07. | :03:16. | |
And earlier John Inverdale was invited to a very special barbecue. | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
Well they have spoken about their friends and families and here we | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
have three parents who know all about the agonies and ecstasies of | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
having an athlete in the family. Your son began running at Eton. But | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
when they find themselves at a high level performance, you are suddenly | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
so much more involved in their lives. That is true. It starts | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
quite early and you realise the enormity of what they have stepped | :03:46. | :03:53. | |
into. In his case he went from a poor week for started at school and | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
within the year of him starting he was on the winning European | :03:59. | :04:06. | |
Championship eight. The winning crew in Munich. And then at Lucerne. | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
And you realise, this is enormous. And people start to expand it in | :04:10. | :04:17. | |
front of your eyes, saying, he has potential, he could go far. It is a | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
dream at that stage and you are shocked, at the enormity of what is | :04:21. | :04:29. | |
about to develop becomes apparent. And it ends up in a way consuming | :04:29. | :04:35. | |
Europe life. You are a privileged, underpaid taxi-driver most of the | :04:35. | :04:43. | |
time! Their dedication is fantastic, they missed out on so much for us | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
up and we suffer as well, getting up early in the morning, running | :04:47. | :04:55. | |
them around places. We paid school fees, he slept through most of the | :04:55. | :05:03. | |
lessons! But he is in the Olympics. Alan is a slightly more senior | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
competitor compared to that elite youngsters. You have lived every | :05:07. | :05:15. | |
race that he has rowed for more than a decade. Does it get easier? | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
It does not get any easier. He just found success early on in this | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
sport and just kept at it. His dream ultimately is to get the gold | :05:26. | :05:33. | |
medal in London. He's just heading towards that. By 16 he had gone on | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
to sixth-form college in England. So we had last of of responsibility. | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
And then the British army took over. And now his wife is looking after | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
him extremely well! I was going to say, you have done little washing | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
for him! That is correct, except for when we do come over and there | :05:55. | :06:02. | |
are these massive piles of clothes just soaking wet. But do you mind | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
looking after him? Not at all. I like to see more of him. I was | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
speaking to some of the parents from the women's gymnastics team | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
and they said they were just so desperate to see them. But I think | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
phone calls are a great as well but lovely just to have that comfort | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
blanket of your parents around you. Well we can cross now down to Eton | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
Dorney. What a morning it has been for the British rowers. The men | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
made the headlines at the last Olympics, but it has come as quite | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
a surprise that Helen Batt and Heather were the first British | :06:41. | :06:47. | |
women ever to win an Olympic gold medal. Sophie Hosking did so well | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
this morning with Katherine Copeland. What do you think it is | :06:51. | :07:00. | |
that is making these girls get the When you are seeing a lot of other | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
people in the team doing it, I think we have had good women's | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
taxpayers coming in before and haven't produced the goods, as a | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
collective group they are saying "Right, we won't have the men have | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
it all their own way, we will do something about it." It could come | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
out that the men's team might not win a gold medal and the medals | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
come from the women and the lightweights. OK, well, Bill Lucas | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
and Sam Townsend are coming up next in the double sculls and they seem | :07:30. | :07:37. | |
perfectly matched. They are both 6'6 and 100 kilos. We will leave it | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
with you to build up the tension, there is only, about three minutes | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
to go. Yes, I was thinking you saying that, that is a tremendous | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
second row pairing, I reckon, if they decide to leave here and go on | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
to dry land. Just on that, we used to play rugby, touch rugby at | :07:54. | :07:59. | |
Leander as a spare session, we organised one full contact game. I | :07:59. | :08:07. | |
have only ever played second ro,, we have a whole team of them. | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
could see you as Joanna lieu mu. Didn't Matthew Pinsent play a | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
number of games? For Henley. Lucas and Townsend, our second row | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
pairing here, who in a sense have come up on the rails a bit. We are | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
not thinking about them as potential med liss, this is so | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
wide-open, anything could happen. Our men's sculling team over the | :08:30. | :08:35. | |
last six or seven years have showed promise, most of the time when they | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
get to the major Championships that have fallen short. They have had a | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
rejig round, the guys were in the Quad and now in the double. But, it | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
all seems to be coming together here, and I think they can get a | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
medal here, and it would be a great boos. They haven't shown any prom | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
nis the World Cup races but they showed a lot of prom nis the | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
semifinal. There is a cheer for the British crew at the start. Because | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
they are relatively inexperienced, it maybe makes things easier, there | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
has been no expectation, everybody has spoken about everyone else. | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
They would be the wild card, if you like, to get a medal, were that to | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
happen in the next seven or eight minutes. One of the problems the | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
team has, they have such strong hopes in all the boats we can't | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
concentrate on all of them. We go to the names of the people who have | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
done it before and what they are trying to do is push their way in, | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
they are going to try and make their name now so we can't overlook | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
them. We expect this to be such a close race, if that is how things | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
pan out, what tactics would you advice the guys to employ? They | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
have got to be in there, I don't think they have to do anything | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
outstanding in the first half, but you have to be part of the race. | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
When the field, any six could win, any six could come last, you don't | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
want to throw your chances away by doing something stupid. Let | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
somebody else do that. You have to be aware of what is happening. You | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
have the Slovenian, they won this double one, the Olympic gold medal | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
in 2000. One of them has been in the team, this is supposed to be | :10:14. | :10:21. | |
his last race. He was in the pair, against me in Barcelona. Anyone, | :10:21. | :10:26. | |
they went outstandingly fast in the first part. Anybody could do | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
anything. I can't call it. They will watch with great passion there | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
to see if Cop goes out on a high note. Let us hope our British pair | :10:35. | :10:45. | |
:10:45. | :10:46. | ||
can send him home with his tail The Olympic final of the men's | :10:46. | :10:52. | |
heavyweight double sculls. Great Britain under way in lane one. | :10:52. | :11:00. | |
Lithuania in two. Slovenia, will they do it again? Slovenia in three. | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
Argentina in four. New Zealand, the World Champions in the all black | :11:04. | :11:10. | |
strip, going through your picture there in five. Italy bring it up in | :11:10. | :11:18. | |
the rear, in lane six. Great Britain have taken it on in the | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
first 100, and they need to do that, Steve was talking about not too | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
much in the first 500 allow for the second, but with the tail wind, we | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
have a cross tail to cross head in the early stage, so that is not | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
going to favour the far side. So the British in the first 250. | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
Jumping out into this final, there is a good start. Now they have to | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
the allow the confidence to flow. Very impressed with the way they | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
went out. That was spectacular. If they can settle into something | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
strong here, and somehow defy the conditions that are not really best | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
in their favour, that would be great. But already, in lane three, | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
you have Slovenia, who are real, real tough racer, moving out in | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
front. -- racers. Slovenia will be bucked by the fact they did so well | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
in the semifinal to make this final. They went out hard, they led, they | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
were all the way through looking superb. Back on form. Remember, | :12:12. | :12:16. | |
they retired. They weren't going to come here but they went out here | :12:16. | :12:22. | |
and they are at the top of their game. We are already a quarter of | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
the way through this Olympic final. Listen to the crowd. That is what | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
they are seeing now on the big score boards, where Great Britain | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
are, we are into the second 500. The early race leaders Slovenia, | :12:38. | :12:46. | |
settling into a compelling rhythm but the British are on their tails. | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
Bill Lucas and Sam Townsend. Sam Townsend from Reading University | :12:50. | :12:53. | |
Boat Club. A great combination, remember, they have rowed together | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
in the Quad last year, at the World Championship, finishing seventh. | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
They have a good partnership going here. They need to step up and step | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
on. They slipped back a little bit there when everybody pushed on, but | :13:08. | :13:15. | |
they reacted well, and they have pushed back again into a position | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
of contention. Very very good. In the semifinal, they, their time was | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
faster than Argentina who won the other semifinal. Earlier on in the | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
season. They beat, they beat them. So this, really, puts them in a | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
great position. Argentina go into second place and the World | :13:33. | :13:39. | |
Champions back there in fifth. Suarez, the Bowman of the | :13:39. | :13:45. | |
Argentineian double, started rowing in 2000. Having watched the Sydney | :13:45. | :13:53. | |
Olympic game, both guys, Suarez and Ross sew. They have really taken | :13:54. | :14:03. | |
:14:04. | :14:12. | ||
this regatta by storm. We are at the half way mark. They led the | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
world, they have settled into a pretty easy rhythm here, but then | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
from 250 on, the Olympic champions from 12 years ago, from Slovenia, | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
said "Hang on a second, it is us who will take you up to the half | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
way." That is what they are doing. Germany are not in this final. | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
Australia are not in the final. So that does leave a bit of a chance. | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
Look at Italy. Beginning to move. Great Britain now slipping back | :14:40. | :14:45. | |
into fourth place. So impressed with Slovenia. Here they are, just | :14:45. | :14:55. | |
:14:55. | :15:08. | ||
we are through the 1250 metres. Great Britain by no means out of | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
the final. New Zealand, they too starting to mount their challenge, | :15:12. | :15:17. | |
we are now getting towards the business end of this Olympic final, | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
of the men's heavyweight double scull, Great Britain have to lift | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
it to another level, if they are going to contend for a medal. | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
are up to 37 strokes a minute. They are matching the Slovenians, but | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
Italy have moved very well indeed. Italy have been keeping themselves | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
to themselves a bit. But they are shifting. Argentina showed their | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
hand early but Great Britain have a battle to get a medal. Here comes | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
New Zealand. For the very last time in this Olympic final. They go | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
through the 1500 metre, Italy, Slovenia, Argentina, Great Britain, | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
back to fifth place, we know the British can sprint. This is the | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
time, this is your last chance Great Britain. Up in lane number | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
one, use the third man in the crew, the third person, and that is the | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
crowd on your right hand side. is New Zealand pushing up into | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
third place, they are fantastic finisher, high number of stroke, I | :16:11. | :16:18. | |
expect them to get past Slovenia but Italy are flying. They have | :16:18. | :16:23. | |
been rong a long time. They are out in front. They have to watch New | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
Zealand. New Zealand pushing through now. Pushing past Slovenia. | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
Can Italy hold them off. Great Britain slipping back to fifth. | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
middle thousand has been a blistering one from the Italians, | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
in lane six. But watch out for the rocket, that is Cohen and Sullivan, | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
the World Champion, they sprint as they have done last time, 200 out. | :16:43. | :16:48. | |
It will be a mad dash for the line. Can't see that Italy is going to be | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
able to hold on. They just keep going. Olympic champion, when Cohen | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
was with another partner and they have just about drawn level. There | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
they go. It is New Zealand. Time to perfection here, the early race | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
leaders Spik and Cop are out in third. Great Britain in fifth | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
position now, not challenging for the medals. The drive coming hard | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
and fast from Cohen and Sullivan, they have got 75 to the line. The | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
Italians have not given up for one last push. Spik and Cop from | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
Slovenia. Great Britain out of the medals. The Olympic champions New | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
Zealand first, Italy get the silver and Slovenia the bronze, and Great | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
Britain over in fifth place, well that will be a disappointment for | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
the British double, who came into this final with such high hopes, | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
but we salute Cohen and Sullivan who add the Olympic gold medal to | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
their World Championship gold medal of last year. And they sprint to | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
the line, and that is what it means. That was a fantastic result. They | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
were very ill in Lucerne, they came 12th, the New Zealanders and nobody | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
knew what they caught on the plane coming over. They recovered, they | :17:59. | :18:05. | |
finally got back to second, in Munich. World Champions Olympic | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
champions. The fairytale was not going to be for Spik and Cop, 12 | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
years after they won out in Sydney. But Cohen and Sullivan, well, they | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
have been fantastic in the last two years at the major Championships. | :18:20. | :18:27. | |
It is all come down tho one race, this one moment in time which will | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
live with them for the rest of their lives. They can call | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
themselves Olympic champions. Hopefully the British double can | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
have another season or two together, just to develop them. The Italians | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
were in that sort of, into 1500 the Italians really launched everything, | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
they gave it their all. There was a moment there where we thought | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
perhaps, a bit of magic from lane six. It was their best boat, I | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
think. It is their best boat and maybe the pair as well. But this | :18:56. | :19:03. | |
was a top, top boat, look... It is brute force isn't it. Look at the | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
work they are doing. Well, they are over in first place. Sullivan, yes, | :19:09. | :19:17. | |
they have it. Where's the line. There it is, we are Olympic chap, | :19:17. | :19:23. | |
the realisation dawns and with it, a job well done. A great journey | :19:23. | :19:29. | |
for Cohen, he was with the great single sculler four years ago and | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
it all went wrong for them. He has come back and he has won this | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
Olympic Gold. Great Britain top left of your picture coming in, in | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
fifth. There is gold for New Zealand, silver for Italy. Slovenia | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
getting the bronze. I am waiting for the caption to confirm as the | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
crews come in. There it is. New Zealand gold. Italy in silver, | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
Slovenia in third. Great Britain in Slovenia in third. Great Britain in | :20:02. | :20:07. | |
fifth. Well it wasn't to be. Maybe perhaps we had built them up too | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
much in hindsight. It is easy in hindsight. Any of those six boats | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
could have won. I think that they were isolated out on the other side | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
once they got into the race, of Lithuania, slid back quickly and | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
they didn't have that direct contact with one of the fast boats | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
and they saw the action on this side, which, don't want to say | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
about the wind, but the wind is going straight across at the moment, | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
if that turns a slight head, that will be an issue for there, but I | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
love what I love about double. It is about smooth, being no | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
aggression, of being in harmony with your boat, and the New | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
Zealanders there, it was just sheer brute force, and the heads down and | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
just everything they could present, the way they were bouncing the boat | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
and forcing the power through, they had no idea of where they were and | :20:53. | :20:58. | |
suddenly looked up, and looked round and saw they have a gold | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
medal. The Italians knew where they were, the poor Italians, stroke, I | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
have been looking at him. If we have a 100% of energy to give at | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
any one time he gave one 100% and he has nothing left. He was gone, | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
absolutely gone, and you know, but was elated to have won a silver. | :21:15. | :21:23. | |
You go flat out, for about 45 seconds, and then you get into | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
oxygen dep. So people putting efforts in at different stages, the | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
Italianed hat an amazing move. Took on the Slovenians, took the lead | :21:30. | :21:39. | |
and you thought that is it. They The Kiwis found some energy from | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
somewhere and blasted it out. look ahead to the next race, the | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
men's lightweight four. We have genuine medal prospects, gold medal | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
prospects. It is eight minutes from race time. What's happening at the | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
moment with them? They almost finished their warm-up, they'd be | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
out on the water for 20 minutes. They've been going through their | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
routines, what they've practised four, staying calm and concentrated | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
on what they are doing. They know that lightweight rowing is always | :22:10. | :22:15. | |
very tight in coxless fours, especially Olympic finals. They | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
know they are favourites, they just have to stay with it, make sure | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
nobody takes them by surprise. They show such confidence in what they | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
are doing. You are talking about such small margins in a race. In | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
their semi-final, they looked so relaxed when they were in third | :22:35. | :22:38. | |
position. They knew they were going to squeeze a bit more power on and | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
move back through everybody. You got this sense of confidence about | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
it. It's that confidence which is going to float them through and | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
bring them through to crossing that line first today. We've had an up- | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
and-down day as far as British rowing is concerned, Sophie Hosking | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
and Kat Copeland were a hugely impressive in their race. We hope | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
we can play the interview with the girls and a few minutes. Sophie was | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
talking about an inner calm, and a calm assurance. If you have that, | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
it means that the enormity of the situation doesn't take over you. | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
their semi-final, grease seemed to jump out and take the lead. What | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
they normally do, I'm a bit concerned about this, I'm not quite | :23:21. | :23:29. | |
sure, are they going to get into the semi-final? -- the final? It is | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
that their calmness and sticking to their routines, they are coming | :23:32. | :23:41. | |
through this. It shows you the strength and depth. One boat starts | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
doing well because they all work on percentage times of their boat | :23:45. | :23:50. | |
speeds compared to the others. One vote as well, then you start to | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
think, we should do well against them as well. Matthew Pinsent was | :23:55. | :24:02. | |
watching the guys as they took to the water. This is our men's | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
lightweight four, of Chambers, Chambers, Williams and Bartley. | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
Let's walk down with them and their coach, who is carrying their blades. | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
A lot of people have been asking about steering in a coxless boat. | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
This is the coxless four. The steering is operated by one of the | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
guys. I don't know who is Deering in this coxless four, it's one of | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
them with their feet. There is a little rudder attached to the stern | :24:30. | :24:39. | |
of the boat by the Finn. It is the surface area of a matchbox. There | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
are two rather wires, they run up into the boat and operated as | :24:43. | :24:48. | |
someone's feet. I have the job of steering in Athens. It is a | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
nightmare because you are facing backwards and have got to Steer | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
this boat perfectly straight from start to finish. You know, | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
especially in an event like this with these guys, tiny margins are | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
going to come into play. In Athens, we run - but we won our race by | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
this much. Thankfully, I steered a decent race. Hopefully these guys | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
can steer well, row well and have more than a decent race. It's going | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
to be very tight. How important is the draw in this | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
race? I think all of them are going to be in with a shout. It doesn't | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
make much difference from that point of view. In theory, the | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
fastest Crusat in the middle, but all of them that are going, we've | :25:32. | :25:39. | |
seen lightweight coxless fours many times, you can throw the blanket | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
over them. I think people would prefer to be on this side with the | :25:44. | :25:51. | |
crosswind. But if it changes a few degrees then it favours the other | :25:51. | :25:57. | |
side. Probably in the middle is the best place to be. We mentioned this | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
earlier but it's worth repeating again, about the dynamic in a boat. | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
You have a pair of brothers in their, and sibling rivalry and | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
bonding is always an interesting thing, whether it's the rugby field, | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
tennis court, whatever it might be. They are together with two other | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
very determined and positive individuals. How important is it | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
that the four people are mentally totally in tune? Mentally and | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
physically. You've got to be in tune completely. You can put the | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
four best lightweight rowers in the world in and it doesn't make it the | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
best lightweight four in the world. If you go back to our lightweight | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
four in Sydney, the combination we had and seats that we sat in, we | :26:36. | :26:42. | |
tried other seats and it didn't work. It didn't have the magic | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
ingredients. If I knew what that was then I would bottle it and sell | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
it. The fact is it comes down to trial and error. We did swap around | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
quite a lot. Normally you put your biggest, strongest guys in the | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
middle, the heavyweight rowers, and the little ones at either rent. We | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
had a very big dynamic going that pushed us along all the time. | :27:04. | :27:09. | |
you have to like each other or is it about respect? I think there's | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
got to be respect there. If you don't respect the people that you | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
are with, but also Trust, you've got to trust them when you are | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
under pressure. You have to know that what you are going to put in, | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
everybody else is going to be putting that same commitment in. | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
They don't have to be your best mates, it doesn't have to be as | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
important as that, but you have to have that trust and relationship. | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
When you're putting your life on the line, that everyone else is | :27:35. | :27:36. | |
putting their life on the line as putting their life on the line as | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
well. There's the big shot of the big lake, the big clouds and the | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
big stands and the big occasion for the men's lightweight four. That is | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
the picture that seven or eight years ago everyone envisaged in the | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
shadow of Windsor Castle, they envisaged this being one of the | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
great symbols of London 2012. As we pan out across Windsor Great Park | :27:57. | :28:05. | |
and find ourselves at Dorney Lake, I think when the story of London | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
2012 is rate in 12 days' time and obviously post Paralympics as well, | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
the pictures of Eton Dorney will be some of the most dramatic, not | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
least because the grandstands have been absolutely packed to the | :28:16. | :28:21. | |
rafters every single day, and also, without tempting too much fate, | :28:21. | :28:24. | |
Great Britain will have enjoyed a huge amount of success. Let us hope | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
that in the course of the next seven or eight minutes, our gold | :28:29. | :28:34. | |
medal tally will rise from one to two. Are you confident? I am | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
confident. I'm not Supreme the confident because you can never be | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
with lightweight fours. We've got over two minutes to go because the | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
clocks that hold the bow Strait haven't come up yet. But they are | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
certainly getting ready. Adrenalin will be pumping. Hopefully a very | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
good race. That sky looks like a painting, but this is very much for | :28:58. | :29:02. | |
real. The final of the men's lightweight four. Great Britain | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
favourites to win. But there are no certainties in sport. Let's join | :29:08. | :29:18. | |
:29:18. | :29:23. | ||
the water. There's a definite cross wind coming in, slightly ahead on | :29:23. | :29:27. | |
the start here. Your thoughts on how that is going to affect the | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
crews in the opening stages. It's difficult for the cruise up in the | :29:31. | :29:37. | |
top lanes, won an two. And against the very fastest crews of Denmark | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
and South Africa. Great Britain is in the middle, they are pretty | :29:41. | :29:51. | |
:29:51. | :29:53. | ||
Just a moment there as they come up on the big screens that adorn the | :29:53. | :30:01. | |
finishing area. Great Britain will be in lane three. Their arch-rivals, | :30:01. | :30:11. | |
:30:11. | :30:42. | ||
and unleash them. This will be right on the edge of our seats stop. | :30:42. | :30:52. | |
:30:52. | :31:26. | ||
the Olympic Games 2012 men's absolutely flown like a rocket in | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
the first 150. That is the way they row. High numbers of strokes, | :31:31. | :31:36. | |
that's how they train. They will keep on like that. They have | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
Everson, three-times Olympic champion. Great Britain settling | :31:41. | :31:44. | |
into their rhythm. Probably able to handle the water well because they | :31:45. | :31:54. | |
:31:55. | :32:31. | ||
neatly and pretty quickly. South screw early. They jumped out, Great | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
Britain, in Munich, meaning all of these crews and Great Britain did | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
that by taking the first 500 out ahead of everybody else. That gave | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
the enough distance to come into a solid rhythm in the second 500. We | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
are now seeing that happen again, but this time it is Denmark doing | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
that. Great Britain are beginning to try and stretch out their | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
fantastic rhythm that they have developed. The two chambers | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
brothers, from Northern Ireland, sitting there. Peter Chambers was | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
ill in the CERN when they came sixth. When he came back in Munich, | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
they won there. They've been looking Supreme ever since. They've | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
got length, power and tremendous finishing speed. Now they've got to | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
work their way back from quite a long way back in the field to get | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
back on terms with Denmark. Denmark will be hard to turnover, Australia | :33:20. | :33:25. | |
as well. Australia haven't had a great season, but they are just | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
stretching out. The Netherlands look like the early victims here at | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
a speed out to the halfway line. Not living with it in lane two | :33:35. | :33:41. | |
mackerel. Great Britain is tucked in amongst it. They've still got an | :33:41. | :33:51. | |
:33:51. | :34:02. | ||
the bronze medal position. Not a bad start at all. We've got two | :34:02. | :34:07. | |
brothers, Pete Chambers and Richard Chambers, Racing for Great Britain. | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
The last time we had two brothers Racing for Great Britain in an | :34:11. | :34:16. | |
Olympic final was back in 1992 in Barcelona. We all know what | :34:16. | :34:22. | |
happened there. It took a big finish. This crew here are capable | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
of a big finish. They will be requiring a big finish. You were | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
there in that boat with the brothers. What have they got to do, | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
because they are quite a long way back? The Danes are really | :34:35. | :34:41. | |
responding well. They made a push their. Now they are coming again. | :34:41. | :34:51. | |
:34:51. | :34:57. | ||
My goodness, you don't turn those you do in the British boat? You | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
churn them out. Keeping it long, keeping it relaxed. The British are | :35:02. | :35:07. | |
looking very well here. They are ready to jump when we get to the | :35:07. | :35:13. | |
last time in Mark, the 1500. They are looking calm and relaxed. The | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
others did get out faster and they are relying on that, they are | :35:17. | :35:27. | |
:35:27. | :35:31. | ||
relying on the fact they've got the Australia and Great Britain. The | :35:31. | :35:37. | |
Danes have led this right from the first stroke. We can get into the | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
danger zone. Great Britain, led by Chris Bartley, brings his men right | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
up on to the boil. Here come the British lightweight four. They are | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
going to be met by a wall of noise from the British crowd. You have a | :35:52. | :35:59. | |
South Africa there as well. This is a tough event. They have now got to | :35:59. | :36:06. | |
turn it up. They've got a big ask here. Can they make it? The British | :36:06. | :36:10. | |
crew with 25 strokes remaining. Surely they are now looking the | :36:10. | :36:16. | |
stronger. One big push and the crowd are on their feet. 20 strokes | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
to Olympic history. Look at them move into second place. They have a | :36:21. | :36:31. | |
:36:31. | :36:51. | ||
quarter of a length to go on the line. They are not going to do it, | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
South Africa are Olympic champions, and we will have to wait for the | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
confirmation. Great Britain get the silver, Denmark get bronze. It was | :37:00. | :37:06. | |
a valiant effort from the British four. Well, it is jubilation in the | :37:06. | :37:12. | |
South African boat, and it will be a little bit of disappointment, the | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
worthy silver medal for Great Britain there. They were called to | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
the line, they gave absolutely everything, for themselves, for the | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
team and for Great Britain. What a superb performance from South | :37:26. | :37:34. | |
Africa. That was absolutely stunning! The Danes did everything | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
they possibly could to get out there, their lead from the start, | :37:38. | :37:45. | |
that is the way they race. But what a performance from South Africa air. | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
Great Britain went out to slow, they were a little bit slow, they | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
left themselves with too much to do early in the race, and I had to | :37:53. | :38:03. | |
:38:03. | :38:04. | ||
come through very, very hard and in the water and getting it pushed | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
through the line. With 100 out, we thought it was Great Britain's, but | :38:09. | :38:15. | |
it is not over until you get well and truly over that line. Fantastic | :38:15. | :38:25. | |
:38:25. | :38:25. | ||
there, but it was controlling that middle 1,000, and they had enough | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
to go with it. Great Britain went, and then South Africa went with | :38:29. | :38:35. | |
them. It was almost like a relay, the baton was passed to South | :38:35. | :38:38. | |
Africa, and they had enough legs to come through Denmark and Great | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
Britain. Well, South Africa have always been heir, knocking on the | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
door, but that was an outstanding, perfectly timed race for them. | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
did not even know they had it over the line, they looked over to the | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
big screen, saw that it was South Africa at the top, and then it's | :38:57. | :39:07. | |
:39:07. | :39:08. | ||
lightweight men's coxless four, Great Britain in silver behind | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
South Africa. We applaud South Africa, but Great Britain should be | :39:12. | :39:20. | |
It is all that the tiniest of margins in lightweight rowing, | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
especially in the fours. The Australian boat have not got a | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
medal at all, and yet they must have been eyeing gold for most of | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
the race. The British guys are silver-medallists, but they would | :39:34. | :39:40. | |
have wanted so much more. absolutely fantastic row, I must | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
say, I am sure the point will be made, there is quite a strong | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
crosswind, and all the crews in the finals that we saw, on his side, | :39:49. | :39:59. | |
:39:59. | :40:01. | ||
lanes 6, 5, four, what they have though we are talking about in | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
shoes, you still felt they could do it, with the Danes leading at this | :40:05. | :40:10. | |
point. Dan was saying our guys did not go off fast enough, but the | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
South Africans were behind Allardyce. It is all about pacing | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
it, getting it right. It is still up for grabs at his point, any | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
three, with the Australians a quarter of a length out. They were | :40:25. | :40:31. | |
not going to be in it at all, so that is how close it can be a. We | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
thought they were going to win gold, so, so close, but fantastic row | :40:36. | :40:42. | |
from the Danes as well. They must have thought they were going to win | :40:42. | :40:50. | |
gold for 1850 metres, and suddenly They were celebrating that, the | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
stroke guy has won Olympic medals before, and when they found out | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
they had got a medal, I thought they would have been disappointed | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
with bronze, but they were celebrating. I'm not sure if our | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
guys are celebrating as much. are out pre-empting what they say | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
as they come in to talk to us very shortly, I suspect their response | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
will be similar to the one from the men's eight yesterday. When you set | :41:14. | :41:19. | |
a target there and end up there, you are inevitably disappointed. In | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
a sense, the Canadian 80 yesterday were jubilant because they wanted | :41:25. | :41:31. | |
the silver medal and got it. Yes, their target was to get a medal, | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
they did not think that they could win gold, let's try to get silver, | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
and the way it turned out they were celebrating for a long time, I am | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
sure they had a very good night, for then it was their gold medal. | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
Steve made the interesting point that it may well be the women who | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
have never won a gold medal before, have one on the board through Helen | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
and Heather yesterday, it may well be the women who are the standard- | :41:59. | :42:05. | |
bearers for the rowing team this year. Let's go straight to Matt | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
Pinsent in the grandstand. I am here with the Chambers family, | :42:09. | :42:17. | |
let me start with mum, I think the word was chuffed. I am well chuffed | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
at that, that was just brilliant, absolutely brilliant. That was a | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
hard-won silver, I am so delighted for those four lights, it is | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
brilliant. Richard's wife, you might have thought they were going | :42:31. | :42:38. | |
to win. It was such an agonising race to watch. Silver is absolutely | :42:38. | :42:44. | |
brilliant. I am so glad they are taking that home. A bit T-Ray, yeah, | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
it has been an emotional morning. One more question over here, sister | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
Becky and father Eric, what was going through your mind halfway? | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
They were a bit out of it. I was just beginning to wonder if they | :42:57. | :43:03. | |
had got it together, but they have a strong finish, so really chuffed | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
that they have done exceptionally well to come through and get silver. | :43:08. | :43:12. | |
Agonising, as is said, I could only keeps screaming, we are all | :43:12. | :43:17. | |
shaking! They're going to come in front of you to get their medals. | :43:17. | :43:23. | |
Thank you so much. Path cheers and tears in the grandstand from the | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
Chambers family, and down on the water's edge, what are we thinking? | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
That was brutal! Really, really recall. We were just fighting, | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
fighting through the whole lot, just to get ourselves back in | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
contention. We did a cracking yarn, just not great enough to get the | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
gold. To even get the cell was impressive where we came from, | :43:50. | :43:56. | |
struggling to keep with the pace. - - the silver. The first quarter of | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
the race, we just dug our heels in and fought really hard. Tell us | :44:01. | :44:09. | |
about the first 500m or so. I think we did... I think we did a | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
reasonable job, we were bouncing around quite a lot, into the buoys | :44:15. | :44:23. | |
and stuff like that, but it is a tough event, like... We wanted to | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
win eight gold, silver is not fantastic, but it is the Olympics, | :44:27. | :44:34. | |
you cannot expect anything. Oh, well. In terms of a dramatic | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
spectacle, it is the best race we have seen so far, which is no | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
consolation whatsoever, but were you thinking in the last 250, if we | :44:42. | :44:48. | |
can get past the Danes, we have done it? Not really, there were | :44:48. | :44:57. | |
three crews that were going for it. It was terrible in the last 250 | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
metres, we were all blown out. It was just trying to get the blade in | :45:01. | :45:11. | |
and get on with it, the last 20 strokes. We got the silver. It is a | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
silver medal. Your family are exultant, so proud of you, a few | :45:14. | :45:24. | |
:45:24. | :45:25. | ||
words for them. Thank you so much. Mixed emotions. Thank you to | :45:25. | :45:34. | |
everyone who came and support us. With the lane draw, I think we had | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
done ourselves to get a silver medal with a difficult lane draw. | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
am sure everybody in Northern Ireland is unbelievably proud of | :45:43. | :45:50. | |
you. Rob Kama last word, we spoke so much about this being the moment. | :45:50. | :45:57. | |
You have had two or three minutes, how do you feel about silver? | :45:57. | :46:05. | |
we wanted to win, but I mean, there is not just two cruise, we cannot | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
have been three lengths back and got silver. We have to be happy, it | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
is a home Olympic Games, and we are silver-medallists, it is not | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
terrible. It is a shame we did not win, but what can you do? We did | :46:17. | :46:23. | |
everything we could, and this has happened. Thank you very much, many | :46:23. | :46:25. | |
congratulations, and in thick silver-medallists in the men's | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
lightweight fours. -- Alan Beck. These are the winners, South Africa, | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
what an absolutely immense row they produced, and I think Matt is with | :46:36. | :46:43. | |
a proud parent from one of the members of that boat. | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
This is David and Daniel Brittain, tell us feel you are mother and | :46:48. | :46:54. | |
father to. Matthew Brittan, who rows in the number two position in | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
the lightweight coxless four, and we are so happy and so proud of | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
that whole team. He is going to have to add something after his | :47:02. | :47:08. | |
name now, two words, Olympic champion. Yes, gold-medallists, and | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
they have worked so hard for this. I am having to scratch my head, I | :47:13. | :47:19. | |
do not think South Africa have ever won Olympic gold. The tis the first | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
Olympic gold in rowing, so thank you to the whole support team, | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
because they have put in hours of work as a crew, but they could not | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
have done it without the team. South Africans bought at the | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
Olympics, everyone thinks about Oscar Pistorius, but this is huge. | :47:36. | :47:41. | |
This is massive, it is fantastic for rowing in South Africa, which | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
is a small sport. We are very proud of him. How was it? When they came | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
past you, it looked like a bun fight for every medal. We saw them | :47:52. | :47:56. | |
race in Lucerne, and they did something similar, they came from | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
5th at the second, and I knew that they could do something special, I | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
knew they had it in them. Enjoy the anthem, we will look for tears. | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
There will be plenty, thank you. Thank you very much. In the wider | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
context, I suppose it is good for the sport is South Africa break | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
their Olympic duck, because it will act as a spur for rowing in South | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
Africa. Definitely, very impressive, the way that they rode the last | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
1,000m to get back in there and then step up again in the last 500m | :48:27. | :48:34. | |
to pull away, very classy. When we were talking to our own crew, we | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
heard the New Zealand and then in the background after the repair | :48:38. | :48:44. | |
earlier. The lightweight double. have got the women's eight to | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
finish things with now, and this is not a true that we have had huge | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
hopes for. But given what we have just seen, I suppose they have a | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
chance, but actually the draw may mitigate against them totally, | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
given what we have just seen. was certainly favour this side of | :49:03. | :49:13. | |
:49:13. | :49:15. | ||
the course, lane six. -- you would sport, we are open to the elements, | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
and sometimes it does come down to the luck of the draw. But the | :49:18. | :49:24. | |
Americans are firm favourites in this. They have been dominant at | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
most of the regattas. They were pushed hard by Canada earlier in | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
the season. Here and now, I cannot see anyone other than America | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
winning this. Everything else is up for grabs, hopefully our girls can | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
pull something together. Is it a case of going for broke and then | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
seeing where you are? They are such outsiders. That is what you have | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
got to do, you will do whatever. You cannot afford to hold back, | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
because there is no coming back from that. You have to be in the | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
race the whole time. The last final of this day's action here at Eton | :50:00. | :50:05. | |
Dorney, a silver medal already from the men's lightweight four, Calle | :50:05. | :50:15. | |
:50:15. | :50:31. | ||
add to that over the course of the It's been an up-and-down season for | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
them. They finished well with a bronze medal in Munich six weeks | :50:35. | :50:45. | |
:50:45. | :50:56. | ||
first in 1976 at the Olympic Games, of Great Britain have never won an | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
Olympic medal in the women's eight. Will it change today? This is | :51:01. | :51:03. | |
perhaps the strongest line-up that Great Britain have ever put out in | :51:03. | :51:11. | |
this event. Australia in one, Netherlands in two, USA, and | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
defeated in this Olympiad, the defending Olympic champions, the | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
current world champions, they are in lane three. Canada in four. | :51:21. | :51:31. | |
:51:31. | :51:35. | ||
Romania in Fife. Great Britain in faster than they have been. That is | :51:35. | :51:43. | |
encouraging. But they are still lying back of the field. They have | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
the multi- talented Romanian squad alongside them, who have dominated | :51:47. | :51:57. | |
:51:57. | :51:59. | ||
the United States, who have been unbeaten. They've got Erin Cafaro | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
and Logan, back from the pair. They were given a bit of a scare by | :52:03. | :52:09. | |
Canada in Lucerne, where Canada pushed them via a quarter of a | :52:09. | :52:19. | |
:52:19. | :52:29. | ||
horses on the Olympic side of things. They came second four years | :52:29. | :52:37. | |
ago in Beijing. It's a different line up this time around, apart | :52:37. | :52:40. | |
from the row in the stroke seat. But they always raise their game | :52:40. | :52:46. | |
coming into an Olympic season. Canada in amongst it all in lane | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
four. These three crews led by the United States of America, just | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
starting to ease out now. The British moving not as well as we | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
would expect. They should have the benefit of the better of the lanes | :53:01. | :53:07. | |
here with a slight cross breeze. Mary Whipple driving the women's | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
eight. She's already a recipient of won Olympic gold medal and one | :53:11. | :53:17. | |
silver medal in her career. Four times world champion. Phenomenally | :53:17. | :53:27. | |
:53:27. | :53:29. | ||
Now they've got their strongest people back in the boat, they've | :53:29. | :53:32. | |
got the measure of Canada and I would not expect Canada to be able | :53:32. | :53:42. | |
:53:42. | :53:58. | ||
to do what they did in Lucerne and position. The real disappointment | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
here is that the Netherlands are third. Great Britain had the better | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
of The Netherlands six weeks ago when I last came together. The | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
British crew finished third, one place ahead of Netherlands. | :54:12. | :54:22. | |
:54:22. | :54:26. | ||
the second half here, they could be ahead of Australia and hot on the | :54:26. | :54:36. | |
:54:36. | :54:53. | ||
holding this altogether. It is going to need fireworks and they | :54:53. | :55:03. | |
:55:03. | :55:21. | ||
will have to happen soon because stages of this Women's Olympic | :55:21. | :55:24. | |
final in the women's eight. The USA have looked so impressive ride from | :55:24. | :55:30. | |
the very first stroke. They lead Canada by three-quarters of a | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
length. Great Britain are coming through in sixth position. The | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
fight at the moment for Great Britain is for fourth. If they can | :55:38. | :55:44. | |
spend the next two 50m getting into fourth, they can then perhaps start | :55:44. | :55:54. | |
:55:54. | :55:57. | ||
the line. Romania are surely too canny to be caught here. But maybe | :55:57. | :56:07. | |
:56:07. | :56:17. | ||
not canny enough to get back into a of the race here. The USA continued | :56:17. | :56:23. | |
to lead by three quarters of a length. It is Canada, a little bit | :56:23. | :56:33. | |
:56:33. | :56:39. | ||
more of The Netherlands. Those Canada are really fighting back. | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
They've got too much to do. Not that they could have done much | :56:43. | :56:52. | |
anyway, but they've got too much to do. BUSA making it an undefeated | :56:52. | :56:59. | |
row for the last four years. -- the USA. Now the Olympic champions | :56:59. | :57:09. | |
:57:09. | :57:24. | ||
the way through this season. Since we last saw this boat performing at | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
its very highest level in Beijing in 2008. Twice now Olympic | :57:30. | :57:37. | |
champions in the women's eight. The United States of America. A good | :57:37. | :57:43. | |
move to put their pair of Erin Cafaro and Logan back into the | :57:43. | :57:53. | |
:57:53. | :58:04. | ||
eighth. Took them out of the pair with their results. The Dutch | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
always come right. The timing is so good at the Olympic Games. They | :58:09. | :58:12. | |
really do know how to come on to the boil here. They were silver- | :58:12. | :58:17. | |
medallists last time around, they are bronze medalists today. You saw | :58:17. | :58:27. | |
:58:27. | :58:43. | ||
that their fifth place, but perhaps live. Everybody gave all they had | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
to give but in the end it wasn't good enough. It's certainly what we | :58:48. | :58:51. | |
thought coming into it on performance they've shown. It will | :58:51. | :58:55. | |
be very tough to get back to being up with the Canadians and the | :58:55. | :58:59. | |
Americans. I thought the Americans for three-quarters of the race were | :58:59. | :59:03. | |
fantastic. I think they knew they'd probably won it but they still had | :59:03. | :59:07. | |
to travel that last 500m to cross the line to take the gold. They've | :59:07. | :59:12. | |
been the outstanding crew over the last four years. The girls will be | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
disappointed. Bronze-medallists last year. They would have liked to | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
have been in that position or better at this time. If you are | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
wondering why we only spoke to three of the four and the | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
lightweight four, Chris Bartley was in a bad way at the end of that | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
race and was helped off the pontoon with medical assistance. I'm sure | :59:29. | :59:34. | |
he is fine now for the medal ceremony. But rowing does provide | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
perhaps almost more than any other sport, people who have given | :59:39. | :59:44. | |
everything and have nothing left to give. It does drain you, that's | :59:44. | :59:48. | |
what I've been saying in the semi- finals. You don't want to go that | :59:48. | :59:51. | |
deep because that takes a long time to recover from. But when it's in | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
the final you don't hold it back. You just give it and give it and | :59:55. | :00:01. | |
give it. We saw how close it was. Any slight mistake for any sort of | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
tiredness of some sort, of not being able to dig deep, you are not | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
going to be able to cross the line in the position you wanted to. They | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
gave it everything. It will take them a long time to be revived from | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
that. In Sydney, we had a little time to paddle around before we | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
came to do the media interviews. Just to be able to get a bit of | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
movement into your legs helps. Coming straight round into the | :00:25. | :00:34. | |
media pontoon, just utter exhaustion. IStop 12 years ago and | :00:34. | :00:44. | |
I can still remember what it is like. Is it your lungs bursting, | :00:44. | :00:49. | |
your head pounding, your thighs burning - what is it? The simple | :00:49. | :00:56. | |
answer is yes. Your lungs and legs. You're better off standing up. Even | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
if you are leaning on somebody pretty hard, just keeping those | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
legs moving, getting the movement back into the muscles, getting the | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
blood flow going and getting rid of the lactic acid. A lot of people | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
talk about lactic acid, but that is what it does. It sees as you are | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
completely. Chris Bartley is back on his feet now. They are waiting | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
for the victory ceremony of the men's lightweight four. Sadly, it's | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
not the victory that they will be celebrating. As we heard earlier | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
from Matthew Pinsent and some delighted South African parents, | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
for the first time ever a South African gold medal in an Olympic | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
rowing. Maybe in four, eight, 12 years' time, we will look back on | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
this day as being the catalyst for South Africa being an important | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
part of the Olympic rowing stage. Gary can take us through the | :01:49. | :01:59. | |
:01:59. | :02:00. | ||
getting help out of the boat there. These guys gave it everything today. | :02:00. | :02:08. | |
They really should be proud of everything. We take our hats off to | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
South Africa. Stand by the way they rowed. They were so mature. We saw | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
them going fast earlier in the year but we didn't really expect them to | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
be challenging for the gold. Maybe possibly looking to see if they | :02:22. | :02:30. | |
could make a medal. Great Britain have been looking so strong. They | :02:30. | :02:40. | |
:02:40. | :02:46. | ||
will be very disappointed because Highness Crown Prince Frederik of | :02:46. | :02:56. | |
:02:56. | :03:19. | ||
Denmark lining up to give the it, but totally delighted with | :03:19. | :03:25. | |
their position. The stroke man is 40 years old, three-times Olympic | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
champion, this time a bronze- medallist. Time to retire, but what | :03:30. | :03:40. | |
:03:40. | :03:40. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 47 seconds | :03:40. | :04:27. | |
customary turn, they salute the crowd. It is an emotional moment. | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
The family in the crowd. What support they have had. Delighted by | :04:32. | :04:42. | |
:04:42. | :04:43. | ||
them. Peter Chambers getting his silver medal. Listen to all of this. | :04:43. | :04:53. | |
:04:53. | :04:56. | ||
Rob Williams. Richard Chambers. A great day for the Chambers family. | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
And the heroic Chris Bartley. What a brave man, he led his guys write | :05:01. | :05:11. | |
:05:11. | :05:17. | ||
in Northern Ireland, a spectacular result for them. First medal for | :05:17. | :05:27. | |
:05:27. | :05:33. | ||
Northern Ireland in role in. -- rowing. Wonderful moments there. To | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
bring you up to date, they are not happy with the lane order given the | :05:38. | :05:48. | |
:05:48. | :05:54. | ||
conditions here and there crosswind rowing medal, it might as well be | :05:54. | :06:00. | |
at the Olympic Games and it might as well be gold. They were no way | :06:00. | :06:10. | |
:06:10. | :06:20. | ||
in the first 1,500m. They were and there is his family. Alongside | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
Matt Tee in Britain, John Smith. A wonderful day for South African | :06:25. | :06:35. | |
:06:35. | :06:35. | ||
rowing, a truly proud moment. A brave stroke there, when it got so | :06:35. | :06:45. | |
:06:45. | :06:49. | ||
close, just one more stroke was Some great stories unfolding here | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
at the Olympic Games at Eton Dorney. And this is perhaps one of the | :06:54. | :07:04. | |
:07:04. | :07:10. | ||
South African growing. Fantastic, this is a spectacular day for them. | :07:10. | :07:20. | |
:07:20. | :07:20. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 47 seconds | :07:20. | :08:45. | |
Please stand for the national A moment to savour for the rest of | :08:45. | :08:55. | |
:08:55. | :08:56. | ||
their lives, the day they became Well, up from one group of Olympic | :08:56. | :08:59. | |
champions do another, from Beijing, because Zac Purchase and Mark | :09:00. | :09:06. | |
Hunter were victorious in China four years ago, and they won their | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
semi-final of the lightweight double an hour or so ago, and | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
during the course of the race you have just seen, they popped along | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
to have a word with us. How much did you have left in the tank at | :09:17. | :09:26. | |
everyone is trying to make the next step, we will raise our game for | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
the final, but today was quite challenging, although we did enough | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
to get a good lane for the final. How much did it matter to you, | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
psychologically, to win at race? Well, we have had a pretty dodgy | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
season so far, and we were out to improve every race and step on, so | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
that was another good win after our good heat, but we have got to say | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
something for the final. We are looking forward to having something | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
fair in the final. We were talking out at the camp in Italy a couple | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
of weeks ago, saying that one or two of the crews had written me off | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
because of the performances in the World Cup. After what has happened | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
here, no way, they are looking at you again, which is obviously the | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
objective. Yes, definitely, we had a tough heat, the Kiwis, we wanted | :10:15. | :10:22. | |
the French in SMEs, we got that, so we have raised two of the biggest | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
cruise in the events. -- raced. The Danes look quite strong, so sad | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
they should be an awesome final. Highly superstitious? Did you have | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
a routine before Beijing? Or are you blase about it? The only thing | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
we want to make sure we do is cross the finishing line first. Every | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
single race is that little bit different, everyone has its nuances, | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
and we are out here for another gold medal, and we will do our best | :10:50. | :10:57. | |
to do that. Confident? Yes. We have but two good races together, put | :10:57. | :11:04. | |
ourselves in a strong position 4th Given the fact that it was such a | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
tight race, the semi-final, how do you assess their prospects? Again, | :11:08. | :11:14. | |
you cannot pick out and it standing winner in that boat at the moment, | :11:14. | :11:20. | |
or that race, but they are in with a shout. They had to dig deeper in | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
the heat to get through to the semi-final, raising the world | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
champions, against the silver- medallists, the New Zealanders. | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
They have had to dig deep again, so I'm hoping that will not take it | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
out of them, but I think their confidence is growing each time, | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
because they have had such a poor season, and the more you cross that | :11:42. | :11:52. | |
line first, whether in the heats or the Senate -- for the semi-finals, | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
everybody knows the Brits are the ones they need to beat. Does the | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
fact that a won four years ago have any bearing on the final? Guinea on | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
mind, it will be, you have done it before, why can't I do it again? -- | :12:08. | :12:16. | |
In your own mind. They can say, we have got the Olympic champions, can | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
we beat them? We have beaten them in international races, but this is | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
the one that counts, and they will be asking themselves questions. | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
Mentally, they will not even think about it, they will think about | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
their own race and not think about the other boats. Each boat will | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
have their own tactics of how they are going to get the best | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
performance out of them, hopefully crossed the line first. In terms of | :12:42. | :12:48. | |
experience, of course, Zac Purchase and Mark and I experienced in that, | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
whereas these two are not, and these are the closing stages of | :12:51. | :13:01. | |
:13:01. | :13:01. | ||
manner which we could say was unexpected, which may be unfair, | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
but the emphatic manner of it, they were very confident, very composed | :13:06. | :13:14. | |
when they spoke to us later. That was hugely impressive! Here, | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
it was just a big relief. I think that is probably going to be the | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
most pressure, getting into the final, and now we can just enjoy it | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
and take it all as it comes. seem very relaxed. I was trying to | :13:30. | :13:36. | |
be! I said before, just think of it as a time trial. I was trying to be, | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
because I did not want to get too worked up, and I know that when we | :13:39. | :13:44. | |
are relaxed, we are at our best. We were talking yesterday, and we said, | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
if it was windy, there is a lot of pressure to get into the A final, | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
we will take any advantage we can get and be the most relaxed boat at | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
there. You have got your game based on the whole time, it is a serious | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
matter, there is a job to be done. I think so, I think we talk a lot | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
about calm intensity in what we do and when we race, we have got to | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
have the utmost desire to move our boat, but we have got to be calm | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
within that and stay in our bubble. Things will be going on around us, | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
but we have to be fully committed to what we are doing, and we showed | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
that today, so really pleased with it. Real inner confidence, I guess. | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
I think so, and that is growing by the day, you know, like she was | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
saying, that was a very pressurised race, the semi-finals is always the | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
most pressure, because everyone wants to make the final. At the | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
lanes, it is 10 times more, but we are through that hurdle, but we | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
have got a date to compose ourselves before the final on | :14:46. | :14:52. | |
Saturday. Gary was talking in the commentary about coming from the | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
north-east, how proud you are to be flying the flag for Teesside, a | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
message for people at home? Thanks for all the messages. I have had so | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
many messages on Twitter, texts and stuff. It is amazing, I love it. It | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
is just really nice, really touching, I just want to say thanks | :15:10. | :15:19. | |
So how to reassess their prospects? As that race started, I was really | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
concerned about how far they slipped back. Just sheer confidence | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
and composure. The Greeks have been the outstanding boat in the | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
category, and they just took them apart. I thought they might be able | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
to get a medal, but can we dream bigger? A final General point, I | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
know much he wants to talk about tomorrow, but we saw the South | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
Africans in the lightweight four, miles out, like watching Lester | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
Piggott 30 years ago, when you know you are five lengths adrift but you | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
have that innate confidence, earth How do not suddenly start pushing | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
and losing that written in the inner desperation? If you happened | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
to glance around, you think, I had better get a shift on, but you lose | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
the rhythm. It is all about the unity of the crew. Whatever you do, | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
you have got to do it together. If somebody thinks, we have got to | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
push harder, if they push, it breaks the unit, so it is about | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
having confidence, and that is where the discipline and training | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
comes in. The more races you have, the more situations you have been | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
in, the better you can react. They have not had that many races, but | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
to come back as strongly as that in the second half to take the gold | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
medal for the first time also Africa, it is absolutely incredible. | :16:41. | :16:49. | |
Sadly, no gold medal for us at Eton Dorney today, but we have high | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
hopes for tomorrow, when I think it is going to be a pretty highly | :16:53. | :16:57. | |
charged emotional scene. Indeed, and to pick on that point | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
you are making, the kind of desperation that you have got to | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
keep the rhythm, of course Kath Grainger is going tomorrow, three | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
times she has tried for Olympic gold, silver every single time, so | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
she is obviously going to go or gold. There is a lot of positive | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
feeling within the women's camp at the moment, everybody wants her to | :17:18. | :17:24. | |
get this. Can she deliver, do you think, under this extreme pressure? | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
Yes, she can keep calm. Both of them together, Anna and Katherine, | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
a great double together. It is a slightly different situation to | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
four years ago. There was a little bit of stress, not the air of | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
confidence about what they were doing within Nic Watt. The Chinese | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
had come out and surprise then, at one of the International that is, | :17:48. | :17:52. | |
and then they got them back. The Chinese went in as joint favourites, | :17:52. | :17:57. | |
and the Chinese on home water got stronger and stronger and stronger, | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
and our girls struggled. Still grates to have a silver, but they | :18:02. | :18:07. | |
could have taken gold. It is the Australians who could potentially | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
take their glory this time, but I do not think anything is going to | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
take the glory away from them this time. They are single-minded in | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
attitude, they are unbeaten, they have never been beaten in his | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
double scull, in this combination, and all of those things added | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
together mean it is going to be a great day tomorrow. How will she | :18:27. | :18:31. | |
sleep tonight with all of that on her mind? Me talking it up like | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
that, I do not know how I am going to sleep! They are more relaxed, | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
very much in control, absolutely supremely confident and disciplined. | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
They know what they have got to do, and it is us that have got to panic | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
about it! We saw your emotion yesterday, it is going to be a big | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
moment for you if she can grab gold. The camera is not going to be on me | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
at all, I'm going to be hiding. John has got that little camera, he | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
always turns it on you. There is no getting away from that, | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
it is in the contract! Thank you to both of you for all of | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
the action that we have seen this morning. If you would like, you can | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
watch Andy Murray over one BBC Three. But that is about it for as | :19:19. | :19:24. | |
on BBC One, a hard one silver in the men's lightweight four, adding | :19:24. | :19:28. |