Rowing brings Britain first gold (x2)

ROWING - Nine days of competition the home crowd had to wait for success. But the magic of Henley finally produced gold for Britain. Twice.

Conditions were as perfect as possible on the afternoon when all the rowingfinals were decided. The sun broke through and the wind blew across the course.

First up were the coxed fours. Switzerland took an early lead, but team USA came back strong to win. It would be one of two gold medals for the country leading in the medal table. USA also won the Men's eights beating a crew of Cambridge undergraduates.

In the coxless pairs British hopes were high. Wilson and Laurie were the clear favourites but the Swiss team, consisting of the brothers Kalt, took the lead from the start. The numerous supporters had to hold their breath until well past the 1.000 meter mark when Wilson upped the tempo once more. The pace was to high for Hans and Josef Kalt and Britain could finally celebrate its first victory.

More was to follow. In the double sculls Burnell and Bushnell led from the start. After they'd build a secure lead, they rowed to consolidate victory. The tactics worked, Denmark had to settle for silver, Uruguay was third.

Other victories were for Australia, Denmark and Italy. But no country scored better than the double gold and silver of Great Britain in rowing. These medals takes the home country from 18th to 9th in the medal tally.

All athletes who competed in the rowing events