Rowing men’s eight lead the way with gold as GB win six medals on day eight

Great Britain hit the medal trail again on day eight of the Paris Olympics, the halfway point of the 2024 Games.

Rowing led the way on the final day of the Olympic regatta, with gold for the men’s eight and bronze for the women’s eight.

There was also success in gymnastics, sailing, dressage and athletics, as well as a guaranteed boxing medal to come for Lewis Richardson in the men’s 71kg division.

We look back on another successful day in France for Team GB that delivered six medals – one gold and five bronze – for an overall tally of 33 medals.

Rowers turn it around

There was no messing about on the water from Team GB in finishing second on rowing’s medal table.

Great Britain ended with eight medals in total, the same as the Netherlands but with one fewer gold, after winning only a silver and bronze in Tokyo three years ago.

The men’s eight ended a thrilling few days at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium by powering past the Netherlands to take gold, while the women’s eight finished behind Romania and Canada to make the podium.

Wilson lashes out

Emma Wilson accused sailing officials of putting athletes’ mental health at risk after falling foul of a controversial new format and being forced to settle for a second consecutive windsurfing bronze medal at Marseille.

The 25-year-old won eight of the 14 races to finish top of the qualifying standings.

But she finished last of three in the winner-takes-all medal race that was introduced following Tokyo 2020 in order to inject greater jeopardy to the end of the competition – and responded by calling out the impact the system had on people’s mental health, as well as questioning her future in the sport.

Happy ending for Hester

Carl Hester admitted it had been a week of “very, very different emotions” as the British dressage team put the Charlotte Dujardin story to one side to claim Olympic bronze in the Grand Prix Special.

Dujardin had been due to join her mentor Hester and Charlotte Fry in competition at Paris 2024, but the three-times gold medallist withdrew just days before the opening ceremony following the release of a video from four years ago which showed her repeatedly hitting a student’s horse with a whip from the ground during a coaching session.

Her replacement Becky Moody got the team off to a fine scoring start at the Chateau de Versailles, and Hester and Fry completed the job for Team GB to make the podium.

No fairytale finish for Max

Max Whitlock’s final gymnastics competition ended in heartbreak at the Bercy Arena.

The six-time Olympic medallist – the most successful British gymnast of all-time – was unable to make it three pommel horse titles in a row as he finished fourth and saw Rhys McClenaghan claim Ireland’s maiden gymnastics gold.

Jake Jarman had earlier scooped Britain’s first gymnastics medal at Paris 2024, taking bronze in a high-level floor final behind gold medallist Carlos Edriel Yulo of the Philippines, and Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat.

Relay delight

Great Britain’s 4×400 metres mixed relay team of Sam Reardon, Laviai Nielsen, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Amber Anning secured Olympic bronze and a new national record.

It was Team GB’s first athletics medal of Paris 2024, with a time of 3:08.01, while the Netherlands’ Femke Bol ran a remarkable anchor leg to deny the United States gold.

Daryll Neita ran 10.96 in the women’s 100m final at the Stade de France – just 0.04 behind bronze medallist Melissa Jefferson as Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred took gold in 10.72.  British record holder Dina Asher-Smith did not make the final, finishing fifth in her semi-final.

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