Tokyo Olympics: Team GB men’s quadruple scull revel in making history with first medal for rowing team

Jack Beaumont, Angus Groom, Harry Leask and Tom Barras celebrate their Olympic silver
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While some crews might have been saddled by the past on day one of the rowing finals at the Tokyo Olympics, the men’s quadruple sculls were not.

For all British Rowing’s dominance at past Olympic regattas, Britain had never won a medal in this discipline, but Jack Beaumont, Angus Groom, Harry Leask and Tom Barras made history in a thrilling blanket finish to take silver.

The British quartet had led up to the halfway point before the dominant crew from the Netherlands came through fast at the business end of the race to take a deserved gold.

But the battle for the lesser medals went to the line, GB sneaking their second place by just 0.22 seconds from Australia in a positive end to what had been a difficult morning of finals from a British perspective.

For Barras, he had the message of “belief, belief, belief” drumming through his head for the final strokes of the oar.

With no disrespect to the four in question, they had not been talked about among the favourites and Groom admitted the lack of spotlight and expectation in the lead-up, in contrast to the men’s coxless four, had aided their cause.

“We have had history over the years and there has been some phenomenally quick British quads,” he said. “We’ve just come a little bit unstuck at the Olympics. There’s been so much work building up to this, long may it continue.”

He credited the silver to the scullers who had been before them, singling out Charles Cousins, Sam Towsend and Alan Campbell from London 2012, even Graeme Thomas and John Collins who had gone earlier in the double sculls only to finish fourth.

“They’ve all been part of this quads project building over the last five years,” he said. “These medals are as much for them as they are for us.”

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It may prove the end of an era for British Rowing in the sense of the men’s four finally being toppled but Beaumont said it might also act as a fresh spark for another part of the British squad.

“It feels very special,” he said. “It’s the start of a new history and that’s awesome – really cool, our first quads Olympic medal.

“We’re hugely proud. We’ve worked so hard. We’ve been part of a rowing team that’s had huge success, a huge tradition of British Rowing. But in our sculling team, there’s a tradition of being in the shadow a little bit.

“We’ve built on years of hard work and near misses, just missing out, and I’m so proud to get this silver medal.”

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