FOUR BLIMEY FOR ROWERS!

THE giant shadow of rowing knights Sir Steven Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent stretched across the Shunyi Rowing Park yesterday — but a new Fab Four of oarsmen stepped out of it.

And they stepped into their own moment of golden glory, Olympic champions in the boat which has now been occupied by British winners for the last three Games.

Redgrave and Pinsent passed on the torch. Steve Williams, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge grabbed it and refused to let go until the prize was theirs.

No more than a whisker separated the British crew from the Australian runners-up who had led for three-quarters of the 2000 metres race.

But when something extra was needed, the quartet found it, inspired by the belief that this was a title that belonged to Britain.

Convinced

Watching on approvingly were Redgrave and Pinsent, content that the trail they blazed is still red-hot.

Pinsent, who wept uncontrollably in Athens four years ago, was probably the calmest man around this time.

He was convinced that this was to be our day again.

The four-time gold medallist said: “The pressure on those boys was immense.

“We were a tough act to follow, but they have.

“It was a bit nerve-racking early on, but once I could see the Aussies moving so far ahead I knew they had done their bit and our boys would come through. It doesn’t worry me that they have taken over. The baton was passed on when I stopped four years ago.

“I have enjoyed seeing it — especially today. I was so certain they were going to win.”

WATER WAY TO WIN - Britain's four-man crew are joined by a swimming fan

Pinsent’s certainty was not evident in the British boat, where the crew were putting themselves through mental and physical torture as they edged their way towards and finally past the Australians.

Williams, a gold medallist alongside Pinsent in Athens, admitted: “We left our souls out there.

“We had a sniff with 20 metres to go but it was ugly. At that stage we really had to dig deep.

Agonies

“It was beyond skills. It was primeval. It was all on the moment. I just went on auto-pilot — just like four years ago.

“Early in the race the Aussies were creeping into the comfort zone. I said: ‘Go with them. Hold on to their tails.’ At 750 to go we started to reel them in.”

For Hodge the last quarter of the race summed up the agonies he has had to endure in the week building up to the final.

The normally affable rower has become a person he has learned to hate but it was that aggression which came to the fore when it mattered. Hodge said: “I don’t know where the last 250 metres came from. I was in so much pain — I’ve never been in that pain in my entire life.

“It would have been nice to have been clear from 500 metres and coast home. But it is never like that.

“At 500 out I could see the stern of the Aussie boat. At 250, I thought: ‘Jesus. Holy shit.

“I remember the last 250 really vividly. I was thinking: ‘We’re not going to get there.’

“But then I thought: ‘Actually I really think we will.’

“It was like closing your eyes just before you’re having a crash and hoping for the best. I could feel the power going behind me. It was just a case of doing as much as you could.

“The last week has been an eternity. I was in a mad panic. But I have to be this animal. I want to rip the heart and soul out of everyone around me.

“It’s what works for me, to sit on the start-line and be this person I don’t like being. Was there an extra burden on us because of who we were following? No. It was all about our race.”

Elise Laverick and Anna Bebbington claimed bronze for Britain in the double sculls but it could so easily have been gold as they finished just 0.23 seconds behind winners New Zealand.

Laverick would have liked something more glittering to add to the bronze she won in Athens in 2004, but the pair have endured the kind of injury setbacks that would have sunk many rowers.

Four years ago Elise was injured by a hit-and-run driver in a white van. She survived with serious facial injuries and a broken hand.

And she said: “I suppose I am lucky to still be alive. It was awful but you learn to put these things behind you.

“I would have liked to have won silver here but two Olympic medals is better than none.

“It’s been a long road. In February and March Anna was sick and I had a stress rib fracture. But you have to believe you can turn things around.”

In the men’s double sculls Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham also took bronze.

They missed out on silver by the narrowest of margins after being overhauled by the Estonian crew in the last 50 metres as Australia took the gold.