Great Britain’s men’s eight revealed their golden charge at Paris 2024 was inspired by videos from Team GB’s Olympic-winning crew at Sydney 24 years ago.
The eight capped off a successful regatta for Britain at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium with a third gold, taking the overall medal total to eight after the women’s eight had won bronze 20 minutes earlier.
Coach Steve Trapmore was a member of Britain’s victorious Sydney 2000 eight, and gathered the current squad together this week to watch videos from his former teammates.
“As they were sending us the videos they might have felt a bit awkward and not really sure if it would mean much to us,” said Plymouth’s Jacob Dawson, who won bronze in the men’s eight at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics before suffering a life-threatening blood clot on his lungs two years later.
“But it really did kick us into gear and brought another level in the last few days coming into the final.
“They told us how to be fierce and don’t give an inch. They said you can be a gentlemen after the race, the 2k is not the time to be a good sportsman.”
James Rudkin recalled how Sydney men’s eight gold medallist Ben Hunt-Davis had visited his school about 15 years ago and inspired him to take up rowing.
Rudkin said: “I was about 10 or 11 and interested in trying to get into rowing (when the school visit happened). I’ve never actually met Ben and to hear from him the other night was awesome.
“It was like the legacy of that crew and how amazing they were. It gave us that wild, animalistic hunger that you need.
“You can row well and be strong, but you’ve got to really want it.”
Amid cooler temperatures than on the first three days of finals, Britain and the Netherlands were locked in a brutal battle during the opening half of the race.
Britain pushed hard over the next 500 to establish a crucial advantage they kept to win in five minutes 22.88 seconds, 1.04secs ahead of the Dutch and 2.40secs clear of the United States in third.
Harry Brightmore, the coxswain, stood up in the boat and celebrated wildly, but the effort was such that Morgan Bolding and Rory Gibbs were carried away suffering from exhaustion.
Gibbs just made it on to the podium after spending time in the medical tent, declining the offer of a wheelchair as he considered it a “little bit pedantic”.
“Amateur dramatics,” quipped Tom Ford, alongside teammates Charlie Elwes, Sholto Carnegie and Tom Digby.
“The race felt like eyes closed, put some watts on the end of the handle, and see what happens.
“I looked around in our team meetings, looked every guy in the eye, and just knew there was no one I’d rather be out there with.”
Ford’s sister Emily was part of the women’s eight alongside Heidi Long, Holly Dunford, Lauren Irwin, Eve Stewart, Annie Campbell-Orde, Hattie Taylor and Rowan McKellar.
Coxswain Henry Fieldman made history by becoming the first person to win an Olympic medal in both men’s and women’s events.
Fieldman won bronze in the men’s eight at Tokyo before switching to the women’s team.
“I saw about the last five strokes of Tom’s race, the most important, said Ford after world champions Romania had surged clear to take gold with Canada winning the battle for silver – 0.67secs ahead of Britain.
“I’m really proud Tom’s achieved gold, but also super-proud of what we’ve done to get on the podium as we’ve overcome so much in the past few months with injuries and other things.”
Long’s bronze was poignant as her father died in 2023 and one of the last notes he left were the log-in details for Olympic tickets and accommodation.
The 27-year-old from Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire said: “He was always my biggest believer and knew this was possible. It’s his legacy really, and I hope it lives on.”
Britain ended the regatta with three gold, two silver and three bronze – the joint-biggest haul with the Netherlands, who ended up with four gold.
It is a far cry from Tokyo when Britain finished 14th on the rowing table with one silver and one bronze, and no gold for the first time since 1980.
Team leader Louise Kingsley said: “Every crew has gone out there and given absolutely everything.
“It is right at the top end of where our expectations could have been. It’s been an incredible regatta.”
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