ROWERS REDEEMED WITH MEDAL HAUL IN PARIS

ROWERS from Leander Club in Henley returned home from Paris this week after Team GB secured eight medals, its best ever haul in an overseas Olympic regatta.

Thirty-six of the 42 competing athletes secured a podium place during the eight-day regatta, which ended on Saturday with the men’s eight winning gold.

This was an incredible turnaround since the Tokyo Games three years ago, which was the first time Team GB had not won a gold rowing medal since 1980.

Overall, the team won three gold medals, two silvers and three bronzes.

This easily bettered the silver and bronze won in Japan in what was Britain’s second lowest medal haul since Atlanta 1996.

Athletes said they felt they had “set the record straight” as Team GB rebuilt its reputation as the leading rowing nation.

Tom Digby, 26, from Greys Green, who races for Oxford Brookes University Boat Club, was part of the eight which beat the Netherlands by just over a second.

He raced alongside Leander’s Sholto Carnegie, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes and Tom Ford and Rory Gibbs and Morgan Bolding, of Oxford Brookes, and James Rudkin, of Newcastle University Boat Club. They were coxed by Leander’s Harry Brightmore. The reigning world and European champions were neck and neck with the Netherlands before surging into the lead at the halfway mark and held on until the finish.

The Netherlands claimed silver while Team USA crossed the line in third, four seconds clear of fourth-placed Germany.

Digby, who was supported in Paris by his father Nick, said: “I’m still processing it — I don’t really believe it. It’s such an overwhelming amount of adrenaline, so you just have to numb it all out and stick to Harry’s every word. He did amazing.

“I didn’t care where we were, I was just doing what I could. Focus on his voice, focus on the feeling, and then suddenly you’re across the line. It all goes so quick.”

Carnegie said: “You dream about this, you work so hard for it every day but you can’t let the thoughts of what it means to you cross your mind; you’ve just got to do what you can on the day and that’s what we did.”

It was a fairytale result for the crew’s coach, Steve Trapmore, who won gold himself in the men’s eight at Sydney 2000. The women’s eight won a bronze, which was only the second ever medal in this event for Team GB. Cox Henry Fieldman became the first to win a medal in both male and female events.

The boat also comprised Leander’s Heidi Long, Rowan McKellar, Emily Ford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Hattie Taylor and Annie Campbell-Orde and Holly Dunford, of Molesey Boat Club.

They held third place behind Romania and Canada through each timing point, despite being pressed very hard by the USA during the first 1,500m and then by the fast-
finishing Australians.

Romania ended up pulling more than four seconds clear in the second half of the 2,000m course to claim gold.

Long, 27, said: “I can’t remember any of the race. I was zoned in from the first stroke, just focusing on Henry, our cox, to try to do exactly what he said on every stroke, one stroke at a time.”

McKellar said: “We attacked the whole way. I didn’t ever feel complacent with bronze. We were going for silver and we never came off the gas. If we had, we wouldn’t have got the bronze.

“I feel really proud of us, absolutely going right until the last stroke. The entire women’s squad is strong. The depth is getting stronger and I think with the programme we’re on, we’re going from strength to strength, so I can see GB moving further up the podium in the coming years.”

Fieldman, 36, who won bronze in the men’s eight at Tokyo, became the first male to cox a female boat for Team GB.

He said: “It has been a real joy, the honour of my life. I hope that now that we’ve had two Olympic medals in the women’s eight that this could be the start of more women’s eights medals to come — stepping on to greater things.”

The crew were coached by Richard Chambers, who won silver at London 2012.

It was a double celebration for brother and sister Tom and Emily Ford who were in their respective eights.

Emily said: “I tried rowing after watching London 2012, but I didn’t start as a natural. Mum and Dad didn’t push us into anything but they encouraged us — we tried all sports.”

Tom added: “They encouraged us to follow our dreams and do what we enjoy. That happened to be rowing and they’ve supported us ever since we decided that we wanted to do it full time and throughout university. Ultimately, they’re the reason we were on that podium.”

On Friday, Leander’s Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George won silver in the men’s coxless pair.

They finished in a time of six minutes, 24 seconds and 11 milliseconds, missing out on gold by 0.45s to the Croatian brothers Valent and Martin Sinkovic in a canvas finish.

This is the first time in 28 years that Great Britain has triumphed in the men’s pair since Sir Matthew Pinsent and Sir Steve Redgrave in Atlanta.

Wynne-Griffith and George, who won bronze in the eight at Tokyo, led the race from the first 300m.

By halfway they were leading Romania by a canvas, which was extended to three quarters of a length with 500m remaining before they were overtaken at the finish.

The pair had been unbeaten this year, having won their first major title at the European championships in April.

Wynne-Griffith said: “Great start, great first 1,950 metres. Just ‘caught a digger’ in the last four strokes and that’s the difference between winning or losing, unfortunately.

“All those hours of training to get it right and we didn’t today. I can’t fault the passion and the grit and what we’ve gone through as a pair and I’ve enjoyed the ride, every second of it.”

George said: “All season whenever we’ve won, we’ve reminded ourselves that we’re going to be hunted.

“We set out there to go really well and we did. We were three strokes short or whatever — these things happen.”

Speaking to Eurosport, he reflected on the rowers’ success compared with Tokyo.

George said: “A lot was written about us and we didn’t have much control over that. As the athletes. we were in the firing line.

“I think what’s really cool is how many of those athletes have come back now and are part of this team that’s really successful. I think that’s really special because we sort of set the record straight.

“If it was easy to win an Olympic medal then everyone would do it. It’s really special to be able to take that forward.”

Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne and Becky Wilde said they were in disbelief after taking bronze in the women’s double sculls on Thursday last week. The pair, who only qualified for the Olympics at the final qualification regatta in May, beat the Netherlands by 1.02 seconds to take third place behind New Zealand and Romania.

Hodgkins-Byrne, who trains at Upper Thames Rowing Club, and Wilde, who trains at Leander Club, were cheered on by spectators watching the race on a big TV in Falaise Square in Henley.

Hodgkins-Byrne, who lives in Charvil, said: “I think it’s starting to sink in a bit. It’s completely surreal but the fact that they were all cheering for us is incredible.

“I’ve never been in that situation before and it’s quite overwhelming but really special.”

The pair had an unconventional journey to the medal podium with Wilde overcoming surgery on her forearms in September and Hodgkins-Byrne returning to the sport after giving birth to her son, Freddie, now two.

Hodgkins-Byrne, one of a growing number of Olympic mothers, said Freddie had already tried to steal her medal.

She joked: “I think that will have to be kept out of his way or it could be used as something to batter me with. So, for my safety, I am going to keep it away from him.”

She said she would now “take each day as it comes” adding: “I wasn’t meant to be rowing this Olympiad and I did and I’ve loved every minute of it.”

Asked what her medal meant to her, Wilde said: “It’s just so many years of hard work. I’ve dreamed about coming to the Olympics and winning a medal for as long as I can remember. So many people have helped me get here and to be able to do that is just such a reward for me and for all of them.” The race was watched by Leander rowers Rosa Thompson and Juliette Perry, who had trained alongside Wilde.

Ms Thompson, 24, said: “I was crying before they even started. We knew they were always going to be quick and obviously, it’s not the traditional path to get to the podium in the double scull.

“Becky’s such an incredible athlete and it has not been an easy year. It was so stressful knowing they’re in the position for a medal and then just hoping that it was going to stay like that.

“We rowed with Becky last year because she was still in the squad. I actually was in the quad with her.”

Ms Perry said: “They’ve had a really short time together in comparison to a lot of the crews that they’ve just raced and they’ve just stepped on throughout the season from qualifiers.”

The athletes were watching with fellow rowers Jonathan Cameron and Jenny Bates, who both rowed with Oxford Brookes University Boat Club.

Ms Bates, 25, who first met Hodgkins-Byrne at Reading University boat club, described the race as incredible.

She said: “It was incredible. They’re such strong athletes and Mathilda had a baby recently as well.

“She also came seventh at the Olympics in Tokyo. I think that disappointment probably urged her on to then come back here and win a medal.”

The GB women’s four narrowly missed out on a gold medal to the Netherlands by 0.18 seconds.

The boat comprised four-time Olympian Helen Glover, Leander rowers Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten, of Imperial College Boat Club.

The crew formed at the start of the 2024 season and had been unbeaten.

As reported in last week’s Henley Standard, three Henley rowers won gold during an historic women’s quad sculls final on Wednesday last week.

Leander Club’s Georgie Brayshaw, Hannah Scott and club captain Lola Anderson were in the crew with Lauren Henry that beat the Dutch crew by just 0.15 seconds. It was the first time that Team GB has won the event.

The women were presented with their medals by the Princess Royal, a member of the International Olympic Committee.

Louise Kingsley, the Team GB rowing team’s director of performance and team leader in Paris, said: “The women’s quad gold was just sensational and to do it in that style, winning by the last stroke, definitely gets the message through that it’s not over until it’s over.

“That got us off to a great start, set morale in the team high and set expectations high.

“We’ve had some cracking races, some great finishes — some we’ve been on the right side of, some we’ve been narrowly on the wrong side of, but you can’t fault any crew.

“Every crew has gone out there and given absolutely all they have to give and then for us to finish on that men’s eight — wow.

“This is right up at the top end of where our expectations were — it has been an incredible regatta.”