The Team GB women’s eight took silver on Saturday, coming in behind the pre-race favourites the United States, to add to Great Britain’s medal haul on Rio’s Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.
The GB team were last at the halfway point but fought back brilliantly and overtook Canada in the closing stages to take the lead. They then had to fight off the surging Romanians to hang on to silver by just 12 hundredths of a second. The US won by 2.49 secs.
Canada set the early pace and were in the lead at 500m with Great Britain, European title winners back in May, 2.3 seconds back in sixth. They then drifted to three seconds out – and last - but put in a storming final 500m. USA did too, though, and won the title for the third Olympics on the bounce. Canada having been in the medals all the way missed out as they came home fourth.
It has been a testing road to Rio for the women’s eight of Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Polly Swann, Jessica Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Karen Bennett and Zoe Lee. At one point there was talk of Rio silver medal-winning double scullers Katherine Grainger and Vicky Thornley taking a place on their boat.
The medal will be particularly sweet for Houghton, in her fifth Olympics, as while she was testing to see if she was good enough to remain in the eights, she lost her father, Robin, to cancer.
Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures
Rio 2016 Olympics - in pictures
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1/74 Day Eight
Andy Murray celebrates his victory over Kai Nishikori to reach the men's Olympic final.
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2/74 Day Eight
Jessica Ennis-Hill continues her bid for gold in heptathlon.
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3/74 Day Eight
Usain Bolt breezed through his 100m heat.
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4/74 Day Eight
Team GB took silver in the women's eight.
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5/74 Day Eight
The men's eight gold took Great Britain top of the rowing medal table.
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6/74 Day Seven
Britain's Jazz Carlin secured her second silver of the Games in the women's 800m freestyle, as American Katie Ledecky surged to her fourth Rio gold.
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7/74 Day Seven
Singapore's Joseph Schooling won his nation's first gold medal with victory in the 100m butterfly as Michael Phelps was denied a 23rd Olympic title.
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8/74 Day Seven
Sir Bradley Wiggins becomes Britain's greatest Olympian ever as Team GB win gold in the men's Team Pursuit at the Velodrome.
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9/74 Day Seven
Bryony Page on her way to a silver in gymnastics trampoline.
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10/74 Day Seven
Heather Stanning and Helen Glover win gold in the women's rowing pairs.
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11/74 Day Seven
Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis celebrate their success in the men’s coxless four.
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12/74 Day Seven
Defending champions Great Britain won silver in the Olympic team dressage, as world champions Germany claimed gold. The British quartet - Spencer Wilton, Fiona Bigwood, Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin - were beaten into second by 3.334 points.
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13/74 Day Six
American Simone Manuel became the first black female swimmer to win an Olympic title as she shared the women's 100m freestyle gold with Canada's Penny Oleksiak, 16, after a dead heat.
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14/74 Day Six
Swimming legend Michael Phelps demolished the field in the 200m individual medley to claim his 22nd Olympic gold.
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15/74 Day Six
Simone Biles takes gold in the Women’s individual all-around artistic gymnastics.
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16/74 Day Six
Fiji's Vatemo Ravouvou breaks through to score during the Men's Rugby Sevens Gold medal final match against Great Britain. Team GB settled for silver as Fiji romped to gold.
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17/74 Day Six
Callum Skinner, Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes of Great Britain celebrate after winning gold in the men's team sprint.
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18/74 Day Six
Double act David Florence and Richard Hounslow won their second joint Olympic silver in the canoeing slalom.
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19/74 Day Six
Victoria Thornley and Katherine Grainger show off their silver medals after the women's double sculls final
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20/74 Day Five
Max Whitlock poses with his bronze medal
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21/74 Day Five
Joe Clarke reacts to winning Britain's second gold of thee Games
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22/74 Day Five
Jack Laugher and Chris Mears celebrate with their gold medals
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23/74 Day Four
David Florence suffered heartbreak in the canoe single C1 men's semi-final
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24/74 Day Four
Andy Murray celebrates his straight sets victory against Juan Monaco
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25/74 Day Three
Lilly King shows off her gold medal as Yulia Efimova parades her silver
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26/74 Day Three
Russia's Yulia Efimova (left) looks on as the US's Lilly King (right) celebrates winning the Women's 100m Breaststroke Final earlier this morning
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27/74 Day Three
Lilly King celebrates after beating her Russian rival Yulia Efimova
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28/74 Day Three
Michael Phelps takes on Chad Le Clos in the men's 200m butterfly final
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29/74 Day Three
Michael Phelps says it 'breaks my heart' to see drug cheats at the Olympics
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30/74 Day Three
James Guy missed out on bronze on Monday night
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31/74 Day Three
Louis Smith reacts to his pommel stumble which may have cost Team GB a medal
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32/74 Day Three
Dan Goodfellow (right) and Tom Daley celebrate with their bronze medals
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33/74 Day Three
Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow dive into the pool in delight after winning bronze
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34/74 Day Three
Tom Daley (left) and Daniel Goodfellow performing in the men's synchronised 10m platform final
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35/74 Day Three
Canada celebrate their victory against Team GB on day three
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36/74 Day Three
Heather Watson leaves the court yesterday after losing her second round match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine
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37/74 Day Two
Carlin proudly shows off her silver medal
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38/74 Day Two
Carlin reacts after learning that she has won the silver medal
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39/74 Day Two
Peaty shows off his gold medal with pride
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40/74 Day Two
Adam Peaty celebrates his gold
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41/74 Day Two
Andy Murray and Jamie Murray were knocked out of the men's doubles by Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa
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42/74 Day Two
Venus and Serena Williams suffered their first ever Olympic defeat playing together
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43/74 Day Two
Richard Kruse battling the Russian Timur Safin
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44/74 Day Two
Lizzie Armitstead finished fifth in the women's road race
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45/74 Day Two
Anna van der Breggen celebrates winning gold in the women's road race
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46/74 Day Two
Annemiek van Vleuten suffered a horrific accident in the women's road race
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47/74 Day Two
The women's road race passes along the beach in Rio de Janeiro
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48/74 Day Two
Andy Murray beat Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-2 to win his men's singles first round match
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49/74 Day Two
Serena Williams is through to the second round of the women's singles after defeating Daria Gavrilova
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50/74 Day Two
Gold medal winner, Hoang Xuan Vinh of Vietnam, center, silver medal winner, Felipe Almeida Wu of Brazil, left, and bronze medalist Pang Wei of China, at the victory ceremony for the men's 10-meter air pistol event
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51/74 Day Two
Rowing was cancelled on day two over fears of sinking and capsizing due to strong winds
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52/74 Day One
Yusra Mardini has won her heat of the Women's 100m Butterfly but she will not be able to go forward to the semi-final
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53/74 Day One
Britain's James Guy chops through the water
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54/74 Day One
Kantinka Hosszu of Hungary set a new world record in winning gold in the Women's 100m Individual Medley final
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55/74 Day One
Samir Ait Said receiving medical help after suffering a badly broken leg
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56/74 Day One
Yusra Mardini leads the race in the 100m Butterfly heat at Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio
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57/74 Day One
Natasha Hunt scored two tries to inspire Britain to victory against Brazil
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58/74 Day One
Joanne Watmore scored Britain's first try in Olympic rugby sevens history
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59/74 Day One
Adam Peaty celebrates after breaking the 100m breaststroke world record
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60/74 Day One
Adam Peaty broke his own world record in the 100m breaststroke heats and is favourite to win gold on Sunday
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61/74 Day One
Adam Peaty broke his own world record in the 100m breaststroke heats
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62/74 Day One
Chris Froome speaks with a bruised Geraint Thomas after the men's road race
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63/74 Day One
Greg van Avermaet celebrates winning gold in the men's road race
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64/74 Day One
Rafal Majka was caught with just two kilometres to go
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65/74 Day One
Greg van Avermaet won a sprint finish to clinch Olympic road race gold
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66/74 Day One
A bullet is marked by Brazilian police in the equestrian media centre
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67/74 Day One
The peloton make their way along the beach during the road race
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68/74 Day One
Chris Froome leads away the men's road race along with the rest of Team GB
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69/74 Day One
The field make their way along the opening stages of the road race
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70/74 Day One
Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand had no trouble in qualifying for the men's single skulls quarter-finals
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71/74 Day One
Rowers warm up under the watchful gaze of the Christ the Redeemer statue
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72/74 Opening Ceremony
A huge fireworks display signals the end of the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony.
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73/74 Opening Ceremony
Andy Murray leads out Team GB at the Rio Olympics opening ceremony
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74/74 Opening Ceremony
Gisele Bundchen turns the stage into a catwalk during the opening ceremony
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“With my dad passing away, it has been really hard,” Houghton said. “But it also gave me great strength because he really helped me get through some hard times in rowing. [His death] made me know for sure that I want to be rowing. I could have walked away from it – but he really wanted me to row.
“He passed away six days before I was selected but I think he knew that I’d done enough and the girls have been incredible. I’m so lucky to have the rowing to help me get through his passing and my dad to have got me through the rowing.
“The medal is for all of us. He is up there, with a great view and would have got to watch a great race.”
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