Team GB pair to be Olympic champions FOREVER as they seal historic gold medal in rowing at Paris 2024
They will forever be the reigning Olympic champions of this event
BRITISH rowing underlined their greatness in Paris as Imogen Grant and Emily Craig triumphed to win Team GB’s SEVENTH Olympic gold medal.
The unbeaten women’s lightweight double sculls duo raced to a dominant victory as Romania and Greece bagged silver and bronze.
Grant and Craig were pushed and challenged every single stroke of the way – but answered every single question.
They delivered as favourites, having dominated the lightweight double sculls for the past three seasons, beating the Romanians by almost two seconds.
That’s Team GB’s sixth rowing medal of Paris 2024, more than any other nation, although their Dutch rivals head the table with three golds.
Paris represents lightweight rowing’s last stand at the Games, after organisers axed it from the Olympic programme moving forward.
In Los Angeles 2028, it will be replaced by the more inclusive discipline of beach sprints, which does not need a rowing lake.
The British duo overcame their Tokyo heartbreak after missing out on a medal by 0.01 seconds three years ago.
But have since remained UNBEATEN – landing back-to-back World Championships.
It comes 30 minutes after fellow Brits Oliver Wynne-Griffith and Tom George claimed silver in the men’s pair final.
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Grant previously told The Sun: “It does mean the stakes are slightly higher. You could become Olympic champions forever.
“It’s somewhat bittersweet. I’ve had really good memories as a lightweight, and I only took rowing seriously because of it.”
The 28-year-old also admitted to feeling a certain level of pressure as a result of Team GB’s huge success in rowing in the past.
Grant will begin working as a doctor in Oxfordshire just three days after the closing ceremony next Sunday.
Team GB’s rowers have excelled in Paris over the last few days, with Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgina Brayshaw sealing a sensational last-gasp victory the women’s quadruple sculls on Wednesday.
Why has lightweight rowing been scrapped?
Weight classes are set to disappear from the Olympic rowing program after the Paris Games.
Introduced in 1996, the discipline has been under threat for years as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) seeks to restrict weight divisions to weightlifting and combat sports.
Organisers concluded that it could lead to dangerous practices among athletes attempting to lose weight, but expending a lot of energy while racing.
CEO of Rowing Ireland, Michelle Carpenter said: “Thomas Bach has said you will only have weight categories where there’s a risk, like boxing.”
The lightweight classes will be replaced by coastal rowing for the 2028 Olympics.
