Samantha Redgrave claimed a hard-earned Olympic silver medal in the women’s four.

The Gateshead rower combined with Helen Glover, Rebecca Shorten and Esme Booth to reach the podium in Paris.

After the women's quad bested the Netherlands in a thrilling sprint finish, a double over the Dutch proved just beyond the four who missed out on gold by 0.18 seconds.
Redgrave won a world title in 2022 but lost her place in the crew a year later having undergone finger surgery and suffered from back problems, making Olympic silver all the sweeter.

“Everything was very sweet, but it was sad for me in 2023 and I’ve struggled through this season too,” said Redgrave.

“There have been little things here and there but nothing that has thrown us off. I’m really proud of the position I got myself, my body, and my mind in to really perform this year. I never knew I’d get back in, but I always had this really strong hope and I could do this. I know my worth, I know my value and that has taken a long time to feel like that.”

The British crew won their heat by a huge margin and there were only ever two nations in the hunt for gold.

The top two opened up a clear water lead on the rest of the field by the halfway stage and traded blows in the final 1000 metres, The Dutch just about held off the GB sprint and the winning margin was 0.18 seconds.

“We try to have that visualisation of how calm and dominant we’re going to be,” said Redgrave. “It felt like we were all in, all present and on the same stroke together. A bit of desperation comes in.

“It felt like how I expected an Olympic final to feel - everything on the line. The strokes go by so quickly.”

The women’s four has shape-shifted since Tokyo with Shorten, one of the strongest female sweep rowers in the world, the only constant.

The crew received widespread acclaim for their performances in 2022 with Redgrave, Heidi Long and Rowan McKellar, who are racing in the eight in Paris, on board.

Glover came back into the fold for the Olympic qualification season and took the place of an injured Redgrave with the boat qualifying thanks to bronze at the World Championships.

A final switch-up for Olympic year saw Booth, who became the first British woman to qualify two boats for the Olympics in the pair and the eight, offer renewed vigour and a fully fit Redgrave slot back in.

“I’m really proud, I’m really proud of everything we’ve done this season,” said Redgrave.

“I’m proud of how we’ve prepared for everything, how we’ve sat down and analysed it and taken everything in our stride. It’s really hard when it is such a fine margin, you’re always going to wish you could have just done those couple of harder strokes. I’m proud of what we’ve done and so happy to come away with a medal.”

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