London 2012 Olympics: More joy in the water as GB men dig deep to secure bronze

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning weren’t the only Brits to claim a rowing medal at Eton Dorney 
yesterday, with the British men’s eight following up that success by winning a bronze with a performance of sheer guts and bravery.

Britain were determined to take on triple world champions Germany – who are unbeaten in four years – and they did exactly that, ultimately sacrificing a silver medal for a shot at gold.

The British crew edged into the lead shortly after the 1,000-metre mark but they were soon overhauled by Germany and then Canada in an agonising finish.

“Today we were prepared to sacrifice a medal to get that gold,” said Matt Langridge. “I’m really proud that we put Germany in a position where they had to win that race, we didn’t hand it to them. We gave it everything we had and they were too good on the day.”

Constantine Louloudis, the 20-year-old stroke man who had only just returned to the British boat having missed the World Cup series through injury, said: “The last 500 metres, my mind said yes but my body said no. I don’t think I’ve ever had to dig that deep. It was not the result we wanted.”

For Greg Searle, it was not the fairytale end to his comeback that he wanted, almost 20 years to the day since he won gold in the Barcelona Olympics. But he had no regrets. “I have felt proud every day that I’ve performed in training. I’ve felt proud of the silver medals I’ve won consistently and I feel proud of this bronze medal,” Searle said.

The British women’s quadruple scull of Melanie Wilson, Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton and Beth Rodford finished a disappointing sixth in their final.

Matt Wells, Tom Solesbury, Charles Cousins and Stephen Rowbotham finished third in their semi-final to become the first crew to qualify a British quadruple scull into an Olympic final.

The British pair of George Nash and Will Satch won a commanding semi-final victory to qualify for tomorrow’s final and announce themselves as medal contenders. Nash and Satch recovered from a slow start to win by three-quarters of a length.

World champions New Zealand’s Hamish Bond and Eric Murray won their semi-final and will be almost unbackable favourites for gold.

Alan Campbell qualified for what promises to be a thrilling single sculls final. Campbell, New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale, Czech Republic sculler Ondrej Synek and Sweden’s Lassi Karonen are all in medal contention.