Katherine Grainger becomes Britain’s most decorated female Olympian

 

Great Britain’s Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley claimed silver in the double sculls coming just behind Poland and ahead of Lithuania.

This silver medal adds to Graingers’ gold she won in the same event at the 2012 London Olympics and the silver medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Polish pair of Magdalena Fularczyk-Kozlowska and Natalia Madaj were behind the Team GB pair for much of the race before overtaking in the final third and winning in a time of seven minutes and 40.10 seconds.

Graingers’ fifth Olympic medal puts her one ahead of the swimmer Rebecca Adlington, who won four medals at the Beijing and London Games.

The Great Britain pair has only been together for a year so are a relatively new partnership, and as a result didn’t know how they would perform in a competition against the best in the world.

“There is a sense of disappointment that we didn’t hold on but it is the most incredible result that I am so proud of because a few weeks ago no-one would have ever expected that from us”, Grainger told BBC Sport.

Immediately after the race, Grainger decided to call it a day and retire after successfully winning Olympic medals at four Olympic Games.

Britain’s most decorated female Olympian when asked whether she will go for more medals at the 2020 Olympics, said: “No. I’m looking forward to having a lie-in.

Grainger has only recently returned to the sport after opting to have a two-year sabbatical after winning gold in London and when the pair won European Bronze last year their next goal was to win an Olympic medal in Rio.

This silver medal marked improvement for the Team GB rowers with Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes earlier in the day finishing an agonising 4^th and Great Britain finishing 5^th in the Men’s Quadruple Sculls.