Olympics Rio 2016: GB men’s eight dominate to take gold, women take silver

Just minutes after the women’s boat had taken silver, Paul Bennett, Scott Durant, Matt Gotrel, Phelan Hill (cox), Matt Langridge, Tom Ransley, Pete Reed, Will Satch and Andrew Triggs Hodge beat Germany and Netherlands into second and third respectively, with an incredible show of power.

Nearly a length ahead at halfway, they never really looked like relinquishing the lead and clinched their first win over Germany this season.

The result means that Britain top the medals table in rowing with three golds, while Germany and New Zealand have two apiece.

Winning in 5:29.63, Britain at one point led the pack by more than two-and-a-half seconds. Germany closed the gap slightly towards the end, claiming second just 1.33 seconds behind the gold-medal winner.

The women's boat had earlier come second in a frantic finish. Karen Bennett, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Zoe de Toledo (cox), Jessica Eddie, Katie Greves, Frances Houghton, Zoe Lee, Polly Swann and Melanie Wilson lost out to the USA but snuck ahead of Romania by just 12 hundreths of a second.

The U.S. crew took the lead in the third section after Canada and the Netherlands made the early running.

The United States finished in 6 minutes 1.49 seconds, 2.49 seconds ahead of Britain. This was the Americans' third Olympic gold in a row. Under coach Tom Terhaar, they have been unbeaten for 10 years and won all the world rowing championships and Olympic Games during this period.

It was a second gold for Meghan Musnicki and Elle Logan, the only two members of the crew who were also in the winning team in London in 2016.