The British men’s eight, led by Vicky Thornley, won bronze in the final of the Tokyo Olympics.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics are the next Olympics to take place in Tokyo, Japan. GB men’s eight take bronze and Vicky Thornley finishes fourth.
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The men’s eight crew won bronze in the last race of the Tokyo 2020 regatta, marking the first time the United Kingdom has failed to win an Olympic rowing gold since 1984.
Germany beat the British eight to silver, while New Zealand won gold.
It was Team GB’s second rowing medal in Tokyo, their lowest total since Atlanta ’96, when they won the same amount of medals.
Earlier, despite a late surge in the women’s single scull, Britain’s Vicky Thornley was denied a medal.
In the bronze medal race, the 33-year-old Welsh rower finished 0.67 seconds behind Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig.
At the Sea Forest Waterway, Britain finished fourth in six events.
At the Beijing 2008, London 2012, and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Team GB was the most successful rowing country, winning six, nine, and five medals, respectively.
Dame Katherine Grainger, a five-time Olympic gold medalist in rowing and the head of UK Sport, maintained that winning just two medals in Tokyo is “not a catastrophe.”
“Sixth place is so near, yet so far away. We’ve been pampered by rowing for so many Games, but building takes time, and we’ll do it again “Grainger said.
At the midway point of the 2,000m race, the British men’s eight crew were in a good position, but New Zealand seized control with 500m to go.
The British crew of Moe Sbihi, Tom Ford, Josh Bugajski, Jacob Dawson, Tom George, Charles Elwes, Oliver Wynne-Griffith, James Rudkin – with cox Harry Fieldman – had to settle for bronze in the closing stages.
The silver medal won by Harry Leask, Angus Groom, Tom Barras, and Jack Beaumont in a close men’s quadruple sculls race on Wednesday was Team GB’s sole other rowing medal.
The return on UK Sport’s £27 million investment in rowing for Tokyo 2020 is two medals.
“Is it a good enough investment at a time when the national budget is under strain from so many directions?” James Cracknell, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, agreed.
During the Paris 2024 cycle, it was reported in December that had been cut by approximately 10% to £22.2 million.
Despite coming agonizingly short, Thornley makes history.
Thornley was attempting to become the first British woman to win a medal in the event, having won silver with Grainger in the double sculls at Rio 2016.
After moving from doubles to singles, an emotional Thornley stated she didn’t believe she could have “done anything more.”
Her trip to Tokyo, on the other hand, was far from easy.
After being pushed off her bike in May of last year, the 2017 World Championship silver medalist was unable to defend her title the following year due to overtraining. She subsequently fractured her elbow in May of this year after being knocked off her bike.
In May, Thornley was engaged in yet another automobile accident, having to flee for her lifeexternal-link seconds before a car crashed with another and caught fire.
“I wanted to see what it takes to be an individual, and I wanted to try it out in the singles,” she said.
“In the past five years, I’ve given it all I’ve got.”
Emma Twigg of New Zealand won gold in the single scull, while Hannah Prakatsen of the Russian Olympic Committee took silver.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I understood I was battling for bronze. I didn’t believe gold or silver could be obtained “Thornley said.
“It was all about Lobnig and me.” I assumed she’d go all out again, but that I’d be able to bring her in. She’s a fantastic athlete, so congratulations to her.
“Maybe I let it get away a little too much in the first half, but I was confident in my ability to recover in the second. I simply faded away in the final 100 meters.”
In her position as a television commentator, Grainger said she was “so, so pleased” of her old rowing partner.
“I don’t think a lot of people anticipated her to make it to the final,” the five-time medalist remarked.
“Despite the fact that it is a fourth time, history has been created. It is the highest placing for a female scull in the Olympic Games.”
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