The last of the reactions from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Regatta

After seven days of competition, it was time for the finals of the biggest and smallest of the boats and the eights and single sculls raced for Olympic medals. Rowing fans from around the world were treated to four more epic races. Here’s what some of today’s medallists had to say about the racing…

In the women’s single sculls, the current World Champion, Karolien Florijn (Netherlands), became Olympic Champion too, taking the title from Emma Twigg (New Zealand), who came second. Florijn said it took a lot to beat Twigg;

“I think you always keep sharp, always know everybody wants to win. Emma pushed me until the last few metres, she really wanted to have a second gold medal. I’m so inspired by her, she’s one of the best rowers in this world and of course I wanted to win very badly and I managed.“I just executed my plan. I have a great team around me and I’m really thankful.”

After the race, Twigg paid credit to Florijn;

“She’s about 10 years my junior, and to be within a few strokes of her is special, and we’ve got a great friendship. I am really proud of her.”“There was a moment there where I thought I could get past. Unfortunately, the legs gave up on me with about 100m to go. I’m just stoked to have done the best that I could today and to win a silver medal, another one for New Zealand.”

In a race that had to be delayed, the men’s single sculls also saw the World Champion become Olympic Champion as Germany’s Oliver Zeidler improved on his performance from Tokyo 2020. Zeidler expressed how he felt that the had turned things around;

“It means a lot to me, especially after what happened in Tokyo. It was one of the biggest upsets of my life, it almost broke me. I almost quit rowing at the time.“I put everything together over the last three years with my team. I am just super thankful that we can rewrite the story from Tokyo, and now I have a gold medal which we have worked for since the very beginning.” 

The women’s eight saw a win for Romania, the second medal of the games for Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar. Radis was over the moon after the race;

“We are extremely happy, it is a great result for all of us. The only gold for a women’s team and we go home with maximum pride.”

The Tokyo 2020 women’s eight Champions, Canada, held off Great Britain to take silver. It was impressive for Canada who had to come through the repechage to get to the final but Kristen Kit described how they improved throughout the regatta.

“I saw an opportunity, and anything can happen in an Olympic final. We knew that going into the race and we seized that opportunity.”“We started this regatta pretty low ranked, and we got second, so we proved a lot of people wrong.“What I love about this group of women is when we get backed into a corner, we fight, and we fight together, we do it together.”

Great Britain were delighted with their bronze, particulary significant for their cox, Henry Fieldman, who had coxed the British men’s eight to a bronze medal in Tokyo 2020. He said;

“I just wanted to help this crew get on the podium and that’s the biggest thing for me. I hope that now that we’ve had two Olympic medals in the women’s eight – 2016 and now – that this could be the start of more women’s eights to come – stepping on to greater things.”

Great Britain became the only nation to win a medal in the men’s and women’s eight when their men took gold in the next race. Charlie Elwes described the improvement since their bronze at Tokyo 2020;

“I sat in the same seat in the eight in Tokyo. We went in seeded number one. Going in as the favourites, obviously you want to win – you expect to win, somewhat.“It was bittersweet coming out of that regatta. There were a lot of demons that were expelled during that race.”

The Netherlands took silver in the men’s eight, securing them the place at the top of the medal table. Speaking after the men’s eight final, Ruben Knab summed up the team’s overall success;

“That’s just the system talking. In the last three years, we set up something that’s pretty great, and the results are speaking for itself. “Everybody in the team works hard. It’s very intoxicating, in a positive way, that you see everybody around you working hard, and it motivates you to make the best of it every day. That goes for athletes as well as staff, employees, family members. Everyone around the team is really pushing their hardest to make the best result possible.”