GB Lightweight boats qualify for Olympic finals for first time

Posted : 15/08/08

TeamGB's lightweight men's double of Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter alongside the lightweight men's four of James Clarke, James Lindsay-Fynn, Paul Mattick and Richard Chambers have made history today by becoming the first GB lightweight crews ever to qualify for an Olympic final.

Purchase and Hunter won their semi-final and will now line-up for Sunday's final unbeaten this year. They took the race on from the front and held off all challangers to win by over half a length.

"We used our strength and skill just to get in front and keep it long and strong", said Hunter after the race.

The lightweight men's four, who are reigning world champions, were third in a tough semi-final today to make Sunday's start-line. They led the race out from the start to make their qualifying slot safe and paid the price in the final 500m.

"We knew it would be like an Olympic final today", added James Lindsay-Fynn because their semi-final included the world championship silver and bronze medallists from 2007 as well as Denmark who are reigning Olympic champions. "The French came at us in the second half, as they normally do, and today we didn't have the cohesion to respond".

TeamGB's lightweight women's double scull of Hester Goodsell and Helen Casey could not find the pace they needed to get in the top three of their semi-final and will now contest a B final tomorrow.

TeamGB now has 10 from 12 boats and 39 from 43 athletes in Olympic finals - testament to the strength in depth which has been made possible over the past four years through both lottery funding and sponsorship.

"The focus today has been our first ever lightweight Olympic finalists", said TeamGB rowing leader David Tanner. "I'm really pleased to show the success of our lightweight programme this Olympiad. For two of our three lightweight crews to make the A finals is a tremendous achievement for the athletes concerned but also for our coaches and the support staff. The lightweight success has added to a great performance of the team overall which has been backed considerably by lottery and other funding".

Tomorrow's TeamGB A finalists are:

15.50 Men's single

16.10 Women's pair

16.50 Women's double scull

17.10 Men's double scull

17.30 Men's four

All times are local Beijing times. Beijing is seven hours ahead of the UK.

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RACE REPORTS

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter looked as if they wanted to lay down a marker to the world in today's lightweight men's double scull semi-final which they won in 6:29.56 with Italy second and Cuba third.

On a rare day when the mountains provided a picture postcard backdrop in the sun which picked out the colours of the flags along the grandstands, the GB duo set out in a controlled fashion to crush the field. Every time their blades moved they they seemed to add a few inches to their lead.

By the 500m mark they had two-thirds of a length lead over the chasing pack, featuring Italy and France amongst others. At 750m they had a length as Purchase permitted himself a glance across to the other lanes and puffed out his cheeks.

By 1000m the margin was over two seconds as it was again 500m later. The TeamGB crew were looking strong and smooth into the light tailwind. By the 1500m mark the lead was the same and whilst Italy launched an attack in the final 500m it was only enough to shorten the winning margin to around two-thirds of a length. Still unbeaten this season, Sunday's final awaits.

"It's always nice to get across the line in the semi-final and know that you've qualified for the big one. In the final we will face a different race, I'm sure", said Purchase.

"Today we used our strength and skill to get in front and keep it long and strong and we could ease up at the end", said Hunter.

They were followed swiftly down the course today by TeamGB's lightweight men's four who are the reigning world champions. As the luck of the draw would have it, they were joined in today's semi-final by the silver and bronze medallists from that race a year ago plus the Danes who are the reigning Olympic champions.

"It could have been the final", said Paul Mattick after the race.

"We knew that we had to go out hard from 250 - 750m. Maybe we paid the price in the last 500m", added James Clarke.

"We were all very nervous on the start as we knew it would be like an Olympic final today. We just made sure that we dominated the early part of the race to get us out of that awful fight to avoid fourth, fifth and sixth place", said James Lindsay-Fynn.

The Dutch, Germans and Finns got off to a fast start in today's semi-final of the lightweight women's double scull but TeamGB's Helen Casey and Hester Goodsell were still in contention. At the 500m mark the Germans were leading with the Finns and Dutch behind them and GB in fourth. That second 500m did the damage from a TeamGB point of view.

By the 1000m mark the margin between Casey and Goodsell and the leaders had stretched to almost five seconds. By 1500m it was clear there was no way back in a race ultimately won by the Dutch with Finland and Germany second and third respectively.

"We're obviously very disappointed", said Casey afterwards. "We truly believed that we could make an impact and make the A final but we're obviously not at that speed"

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RESULTS
(Races featuring GB crews only)

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull
1. Kirsten van der Kolk (Netherlands) 7:03.87
2. Senna Sten/Minna Nieminen (Finland) 7:03.91
3. Berit Carow/Marie-Louise Draeger (Germany) 7:04.95
4. Katrin Olsen/Julianne Rasmussen (Denmark) 7:06.31
5. Hester Goodsell/Helen Casey (GREAT BRITAIN) 7:17.67
6. Yaima Velazquez/Ismaray Marrero (Cuba) 7:30.15

MEN

Four
1. Denmark 6:05.75
2. France 6:07.26
3. Richard Chambers/James Lindsay-Fynn/Paul Mattick/ James Clarke (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:08.75
4. Ireland 6:13.85
5. Italy 6:14.73
6. USA 6:16.30

Double scull
1. Zac Purchase/Mark Hunter (GREAT BRITAIN) 6:29.56
2. Marcello Miani/Elia Luini (Italy) 6:31.16
3. Eyder Batista/Yunior Perez (Cuba) 6:33.60
4. Jonathan Koch/Manuel Brehmer (Germany) 6:37.07
5. Maximi Goisset/Frederic Dufour (France) 6:41.18
6. Douglas Vandor/Cameron Sylvester (Canada) 6:49.28

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BEIJING RACING TIMETABLE

Saturday 16 August:

FINALS:
Men's and women's single, double and pair and men's four

B Finals:
Lightweight men's double and four
Lightweight women's double
Men's and women's quadruple scull
Men's eight

Sunday 17 August:

FINALS
Lightweight men's double and four
Lightweight women's double
Men's and women's quadruple scull and eight
Women's eight

NB - subject to change. Please see Beijing 2008 website for up to date information.

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TEAMGB CREW LISTS

Olympic Games 2008, Beijing
(with clubs/home towns/dates of birth)
(listed from bow to stroke as at 7 August)

OPEN WOMEN

Eight:
Carla Ashford (Oxford Brookes BC/Northallerton/13.03.79)
Beth Rodford (Thames RC/Burton-on-Trent/ 28.12.82)
Natasha Page (Reading Uni/Hartpury/30.04.85)
Natasha Howard (Tideway Scullers/West Runton/3.9.80)
Jess Eddie (Uni of London/Durham/07.10.84)
Sarah Winckless (Walbrook & Royal/Henley/18.10.73)
Alison Knowles (Thames RC/ Bournemouth/27.3.82)
Katie Greves (Leander Club/Oxford/02.09.82)
Caroline O'Connor (Oxford Brookes/Ealing/25.04.83) (cox)
Coach: John Keogh

Pair:
Louisa Reeve (Leander/London/16.05.84)/
Olivia Whitlam (Agecroft/Warrington 16.09.85)
Coach: Rob Morgan

Quad Scull:
Annie Vernon (Marlow RC/Wadebridge/01.09.82)/
Debbie Flood (Leander Club/Leeds/27.02.80)/
Frances Houghton (Tyrian Club (Uni of London)/Oxford/19.09.80)/
Katherine Grainger (St Andrew BC/Aberdeen/12.11.75)
Coach: Paul Thompson

Double scull:
Elise Laverick (Thames RC/Poling, W.Sussex/27.07.75)/
Anna Bebington (Leander Club/Leek, Staffs/13.2.83)
Coach: Miles Forbes Thomas

Alternates*
Tina Stiller (Nottingham RC/Yarm, N.Yorks/23.6.87)
Alice Freeman (Wallingford RC/Oxford/6.9.78)

MEN

Pair:
Robin Bourne-Taylor (Army RC/Oxford/22.07.81)/
Tom Solesbury (Molesey BC/Petts Wood, Kent/23.09.80)
Coach: Peter Sheppard

Four:
Tom James (Molesey/Wrexham/11.3.84)/
Steve Williams (Leander Club/Cheltenham/15.04.76)/
Pete Reed (Leander Club/ Nailsworth, Glos/27.07.81)/
Andy Triggs Hodge (Molesey BC/Hebden, N.Yorks/03.03.79)
Coach: Jurgen Grobler

Eight:
Alex Partridge (Leander Club/Alton, Hants/25.01.81)/
Tom Stallard (Leander/Welwyn, Herts/11.09.78)/
Tom Lucy (Oxford Brookes/Monmouth/01.05.88)/
Richard Egington (Leander/Knutsford/26.02.79)/
Josh West (Leander/Santa Fe, USA/25.03.77)/
Alastair Heathcote (Army RC/London/18.8.77)/
Matt Langridge(Leander Club/Northwich/20.05.83)/
Colin Smith (Leander/Henley on Thames/23.09.83)/
Acer Nethercott (University College Oxford BC/Harlow/28.11.77) (cox)
Coaches: Mark Banks, John West

Single Scull:
Alan Campbell (Tideway Scullers/Coleraine/9.5.83)
Coach: Bill Barry

Double Scull:
Matt Wells (Leander Club/Hexham, Northumberland/19.4.79)/
Stephen Rowbotham (Leander Club/Winscombe, Somerset/11.11.81)
Coach: Mark Earnshaw

Men's Alternates*
Tom Parker (Oxford Brookes/Winchester/24.10.82)
Alex Gregory (Reading Uni/Wormington/11.03.84)

LIGHTWEIGHT

WOMEN

Double scull
Hester Goodsell (Reading Uni/Cambridge/27.06.84)
Helen Casey (Wallingford RC/Oxford/06.02.74)/
Coach: Rob Morgan

MEN

Four
Richard Chambers (Oxford Brookes/Coleraine/10.06.85)/
James Lindsay-Fynn (London/Trim/29.09.75)/
Paul Mattick (Wallingford/Oxford/25.04.78)/
James Clarke (London RC/ London/31.12.84)
Coach: Robin Williams

Double scull
Zac Purchase (Marlow RC/Tewkesbury, Glos/02.05.86)/
Mark Hunter (Leander Club/Romford, Essex/01.07.78)
Coach: Darren Whiter

Lightweight Men's Alternate*
Rob Williams (London RC/Maidenhead/21.01.1985)

* Alternate=Reserve

TEAM OFFICIALS ACCREDITED TEAM OFFICIALS

Team Leader: David Tanner

Chief Coaches: Jurgen Grobler, Paul Thompson

Coaches: Miles Forbes-Thomas, John Keogh, Robin Williams, Darren Whiter, Rob Morgan, Bill Barry, Mark Earnshaw, Mark Banks, John West, Peter Sheppard

Support staff: Maggie Netto, Maurice Hayes.

Medical staff: Ali Sanders, Mark Edgar

Press officer: Caroline Searle

ADDITIONAL TRAVELLING STAFF

All medical/sports science: Pam Gardner, Gill Edmonson, Ryan Bathurst, Al Smith, Mark Homer, Chris Shambrook