| Dates: 23 July-8 August Time in Tokyo: BST +8 |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and online; Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sounds; live text and video clips on BBC Sport website and app. |
“That is unheard of in the closing stages of an Olympic final”.
That was the immediate reaction of BBC rowing commentator Garry Herbert to Britain’s near-crash at the end of the men’s four medal race in Tokyo.
And he should know.
Herbert was the cox steering brothers Greg and Johnny Searle to coxed pairs gold at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
But in the men’s four final in Tokyo, Britain got their navigation badly wrong.
What happened?
With 500 metres of the 2,000-metre race to go, Britain looked well set to chase down a sixth successive gold medal in the event, one of the most prestigious of the whole Olympic regatta.
They were second, 1.62 seconds down and closing on an Australian crew that had started fast. Perhaps too fast.
However it was Britain who instead lost their way in the closing stages.
The boat veered towards Australia in one lane, before swerving the other way and appearing to clash oars with the Italian boat.
Great Britain, having covered more distance via their erratic line, finished fourth.
“I’m responsible for the steering. I screwed up,” said an emotional bow Ollie Cook, who wiped away tears in the post-race television interview.
“I forgot the steering a little bit and that cost us a medal. To the lads, I’m sorry I didn’t steer us the best line at the end.”
Cook controls the boat’s direction via a thin wire attached to his foot.
‘You aren’t always thinking straight’
“I don’t know the last time I saw [a crew veer offline] at this level. Near the start of the race the British were having problems with steering but at the end it was out of control,” said London 2012 double sculls gold medallist Dame Katherine Grainger.
“In that moment at the finish, when you are beyond exhausted and having to make very fast decisions, you aren’t always thinking straight.
“It is going to be very hard to come to terms with because Ollie is the elder statesman in the boat. It is a hard thing to live with.
“You could argue that they should have won it earlier in the race, that it didn’t necessarily come down to that moment.
“But it is such a visually dramatic moment in the race, at the point the medals are decided, you look to that.”
“I think someone in the British crew blew up,” said James Cracknell, a two-time Olympic champion in the men’s four.
Matthew Pinsent, a team-mate of Cracknell’s for both fours victories and a twice Olympic champion in the coxless pair, pointed to the conditions as a factor.
The course was choppy, particularly in the final section, because of high winds in Tokyo.
“Steering a fast four under Olympic pressure is not easy in a crosswind,” he tweeted.
“I never had to do it and I wouldn’t have fancied it today.”
