Britain’s men’s eight pip Dutch in thriller, Romania’s women take gold

Britain’s men’s eight outduelled the Netherlands to reclaim Olympic gold on Saturday while Romania dominated the women’s event on the final day of rowing at the Paris Games.

The men’s race at Vaires-sur-Marne was a tight battle between two-time reigning world champions Britain and the Dutch.

But after winning bronze at Tokyo 2020, Britain, a traditional powerhouse in the sport, grabbed back the gold they had won at Rio 2016.

The teams swapped the lead in the early stages and the boats were neck-and-neck at the 1,000m half-way stage.

But the British crew broke their opponents’ challenge over the next 500m, stamping their authority on the race.

Britain crossed the line in 5min 22.88sec, with the Dutch just over a second behind. The USA took bronze.

It was Britain’s third rowing gold at Paris 2024.

“Seeing everyone else get their medals means that you learn from it and you can look at things that they did really well,” said gold medallist Sholto Carnegie.

“But there were times where we just wanted to get racing. We have stuck together and worked so hard since Tokyo, but it still hasn’t sunk in. I can’t really believe this is real.”

In the women’s event, the Romanians trailed Canada at the 500m mark but then upped the pace and pulled away, winning by nearly 4.5 seconds in a time of 5:54.39.

Reigning champions Canada took silver and Britain won bronze.

“Our cox, Victoria Stefania Petreanu told us in the last 500m the gold was ours, but I didn’t believe it,” said winner Maria Lehaci.

“I knew that we had to go for the finish line and here we are. We are Olympic champions.”

Heading into Paris, Romania were the most decorated nation in the women’s eight, boasting nine Olympic medals, three more than any other country.

Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar added gold medals to their silvers in the double sculls earlier this week.