BBC One: Day 6: 11.30-13.00 Olympics


BBC One: Day 6: 11.30-13.00

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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.

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