Australia's women's four rowing crew wins the country's fourth gold medal at the Tokyo Games, holding off the Netherlands by less than a second, only for the men's crew to back it up less than 10 minutes later.
Australia's fourth and fifth gold medals at the Tokyo Games have come courtesy of our men's and women's fours rowing crews, with both teams claiming nailbiting wins in their respective finals.
In choppy conditions at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo Bay, Lucy Stephan, Rosemary Popa, Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre finished just ahead of the Netherlands and Ireland in this morning's women's final at the Sea Forest Waterway. The Aussies and the Dutch had broken away from the pack early and in the end, only 0.34 seconds would separate them.The women's four returned to the Olympic program at Tokyo following an absence since Barcelona in 1992.
In the next race, Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves, and Alexander Hill brought the Australian men's boat home in an Olympic record ahead of Romania and Italy in a tight finish, as Great Britain appeared to veer off course.Britain had won the previous five Olympic gold medals in the men's four event and was looked to be gaining on Australia late, only to make an abrupt left turn and fall out of the medal positions.
The Australian team of Jack Cleary, Caleb Antill, Cameron Girdlestone and Luke Letcher crossed the line behind the Netherlands in first place and Great Britain in second.