Katherine Grainger became Britain’s most decorated female Olympian by taking silver alongside Victoria Thornley in the double sculls.
While the pair rowed bravely they were beaten to gold by Poland’s Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj, who won by a mere 0.95 seconds. Lithuania came in third.
Grainger who is 40 is highly decorated and was a Gold winner in London. Prior to that she had won silver in Athens, Beijing and Sydney.
The Thornley (28)/Grainger axis is still relatively new as the pair were only put together last year.
“There is a sense of disappointment that we didn’t hold on but it is the most incredible result that I am so proud of because a few weeks ago no-one would have ever expected that from us,” said Grainger.
Thornley said, “I have been dreaming of winning an Olympic medal since I started rowing and so many times I was not sure it would ever happen.
“I had to find the right race with the right person and today was that race.”
The pair had faced their fair share of difficulties on the road to Rio but had put all that behind them and were in the lead by 0.64 seconds till the halfway mark before the Poles went ahead to win Gold.
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