Olympics-Rowing-Britannia rules the waves with two golds

By Angus MacSwan and Amy Tennery
Reuters

* Stanning, Glover defend crown

* British men's four make it five in a row

* Dutch women in surprise win

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - British rowers enjoyed a day of glory at the Olympic rowing regatta on Friday, with Helen Glover and Heather Stanning successfully defending their crown in the women's pair and the men's four winning a fifth consecutive gold.

The two victories came in the space of less than half an hour on the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon and both crews were pushed hard, with New Zealand claiming silver in the women's pair and Australia settling for second in the men's four.

Glover and Stanning's win extended a five-year unbeaten run over 39 races.

"The pressure was immense. London was a home games and there was nothing more special but this is defending a title -- it means so much," Glover said.

In the lightweight women's double sculls, the Netherlands duo of Ilse Paulis and Maaike Head claimed gold in a race that was always set to be highly-competitive. Head and Paulis had only qualified at the last-chance regatta in May.

France's Pierre Houin and Jeremie Azou hung on to win the men's lightweight double sculls in a very tight finish.

Irish brothers Gary and Paul O'Donovan took silver, becoming the second set of brothers to medal in the rowing after Croatians Martin and Valent Sinkovic's gold in the double sculls on Thursday.

The day had started with torrential rain lashing down on the mountain-flanked lagoon. But the high winds that had twice forced the day's program to be called off earlier in the regatta were absent.

The downpour helped to flatten the waters, and rowers said they were quite used to taking to their boats in rain.

The women's pair had been one of the most highly-anticipated finals, with the New Zealanders, the United States and the Danes all standing a fair chance of toppling world and Olympic record holders Glover and Stanning.

But the Britons led from the start, as is their style.

"This week's been an emotional week. I'm not a very emotional person, but I'm going to have to change that after this week," said Stanning, a British Army officer and Afghanistan veteran.

They crossed the line in 7 minutes 18.29 seconds, ahead of New Zealand by 1.2 seconds. The Kiwi duo of Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent had left it late but moved up in the last stretch to take the silver.

The young Danes Hedvig Rasmussen and Anne Anderson, who have really made a mark in this regatta, held second place for much of the race in a tussle with the U.S. pair, but were still delighted with bronze.

"I'm just surprised. The other crews have beaten us most of the time," Rasmussen said. "This is only a bronze, so there's still more to come."

Britain's four of Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis now join a pantheon of British rowing greats.

Britain have had an iron grip on the men's four in a golden run stretching back to the turn of the century and the era of five-time Olympic champion Steve Redgrave.

Only the United States has a longer gold streak in a specific rowing event, with the men's eight winning eight times in a row between 1920 and 1956.

Britain battled stroke-for-stroke with Australia for most of the race but edged ahead to claim that fifth consecutive gold medal. Italy finished a distant third with a late surge.

It was a day of heartbreak for South Africa, who had crews in all four of Thursday's finals but failed to win a medal despite some sterling efforts. Still, with a small team and a limited budget, they have won many admirers at the Games.

The United States, including their vaunted women's pair Felice Mueller and Grace Luczak, also failed to make it to the podium on Thursday.

In the men's singles sculls semi-finals, that had been delayed by bad weather, world record holder Mathe Drysdale of New Zealand and his arch-rival Ondrej Synek predictably booked places in the final, setting up a showdown which will be a highlight of the last day of the rowing in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. (Reporting by Angus MacSwan and Amy Tennery; Editing by Toby Davis)

08/12/2016 13:28