Olympic Success for Brookes athletes
‘Super Saturday’ strikes again, with Brookes athletes Scott Durant and Olivia Carnegie-Brown winning a gold and silver medal, in the men’s 8+ and women’s 8+ respectively. These final, emphatic medals brought Britain to the top of the Olympic rowing table, with 3 gold and 2 silver medals.
The women’s 8+ pulled strongly through the field to claim silver – GB Rowing’s first ever Olympic medal in this event. The men’s 8+, with Scott Durant crossing the line first in the bow seat, brought home the Olympic gold for the first time since Sydney 2000. This caps off a phenomenal series of World Championships for the men, with GB winning every World Championship 8+ title, up to and including the Olympics Games themselves, which had never been done by a British eight before.
Another celebration of success was our very own Chancellor, Katherine Grainger, achieving her 5th Olympic medal in the form of a silver in the W2x, making her Britain’s most decorated female Olympian. You can read British Rowing’s report here, or the University’s official article here. The Chambers brothers Peter and Richard won the B final in their respective LM4- and LM2x events, after extremely tough semi-finals. Matthew Tarrant also came away with a win, leading the spare pairs race by a comfortable margin.
What a fantastic achievement for the Brookes Olympians and medallists that have represented at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. With more Brookes students set to represent GB at subsequent Championships this summer, we hope this inspires the rowers, and fuels the fire for more International medals.