Great Britain won gold in the men's coxless four for the third successive Olympics as they pipped Australia in a thrilling final.
British double sculls success for men and women at Shunyi venue
Great Britain won gold in the men's coxless four for the third successive Olympics as they pipped Australia in a thrilling final.
The quartet of Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed and Andy Triggs Hodge recovered from a length back to take the title in Beijing.
Down in third at the halfway stage, the foursome - roared on by a large British following in the stands - upped the pace to close the gap.
Having led for so much of the race the Australians had to settle for silver, with France ending up with the bronze.
Sculls success
Victory for the flagship crew followed hot on the heels of a bronze medal for Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham in the men's double sculls.
The pair missed out on a silver by a fraction of a second to Estonian's Juri Jaanson and Tonu Endrekson. David Crawshay and Scott Brennan took gold for Australia.
British success at Shunyi had started with Elise Laverick and Anna Bebington taking bronze in a dramatic finish to the women's doubles sculls.
Having won the bronze in Athens the duo repeated the feat four years later having had to qualify for the final through the repechage.
Content to sit back and bide their time for the first half of the race, Laverick and Bebington came storming through in the closing stages but were left with too much to do in the final few metres.
Twin delight
New Zealand twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell successfully defended their title, claiming gold by just 0.23 seconds from Germany's Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth.
However, there was to be no joy for Brits Louisa Reeve and Olivia Whitlam in the women's pair final as they came home last.
Romanian's Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu retained their grip on the title but the Brits were not too downhearted having only raced together for the first time in June at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne
"I wouldn't swap that seven and a half minutes of my life for anything, even losing," Whitlam said. "It was just awesome. It was not exactly the result I want but we were still there."
