GB eight bag bronze
Great Britain's men's eight claimed a bronze medal after a thrilling final at Eton Dorney on Wednesday.
Last Updated: 01/08/12 3:50pm
Great Britain's men's eights claimed a bronze medal behind Germany and Canada after a thrilling final at Eton Dorney on Wednesday.
In what was only their third race together, GB threatened a gold medal place for large periods before gold medal winners Germany showed their class in the latter stages and Canada snuck through for silver.
Britain trailed by only half a canvas at the 1000metre mark and they gave triple world champions Germany, unbeaten for four years, one of their toughest tests of the last Olympiad.
But Germany began to pull clear in the final quarter of the race and, eventually, the British crew were pipped for silver by 2008 Olympic champions Canada.
Phenomenal
"We stuck to our word and we took the race on from the word go and went out with the Germans and maybe even in front of them at one point," said James Foad.
"We thought we had found their breaking point but they are a phenomenal crew, so hats off to them.
"We came to this Games to win. There are three guys in the eight who won silver in Beijing and there's Greg Searle in the boat as well in his last ever race, so we wanted them so much to get them gold.
"So bronze is a bit disappointing, but a few years ago I would never have dreamed of getting an Olympic medal."