Life is but a dream for Grainger . . .

Hugh Macdonald

Chief Sports Writer

Tuesday 31 July 2012

IT was the moment when rowing seemed to become a cruise.

Anna Watkins, left, and Katherine Grainger react after their convincing victory yesterday

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Hugh MacDonald

Women's double scull pair Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins took almost five seconds from the Olympic record as they moved easily into Friday's final. The reigning world champions have still to experience defeat as a pair, winning 21 races since they came together in 2010, finished their heat in 6:44.33 as they powered to victory over second placed New Zealand at Eaton Dorney yesterday morning.

There seemed to be more to come form the pair and their words franked this impression. "I'm really pleased with our first event, I'm overwhelmed with the result," said Grainger. "You can hear the crowd but you feel it in your body, pulsing through you. We're very lucky to have this incredible support from around the country. It lifts you like nothing else."Grainger, after three consecutive silver Olympic medals, is not showing the strain of attempting to secure her first gold, either in or out of the boat. If her performance was smooth, she was relaxed in the news conference. "The plan for the next four days is feet up . . . not," she smiled. "We've got an adrenaline high now and we're both aware we can enjoy it for the next few hours, but we need to bring it back down. We'll head back to training and a dull lifestyle to get everything in place for Friday."We were surprised we got the Olympic record. We knew that if there were very fast conditions, we would go for a fast time, but it didn't feel fast. Anna deliberately held us steady. It was good to see how fast we were going but I think we have more. The final is the big one, no-one will remember on Friday who won the heat. It's a new job to do."Grainger, who is surely facing her final Olympic challenge at the age of 36, was not complacent about the performance. "We have got a lot more steps that we can put in there so there is a big amount to come still," she said.Great Britain's men's four, also won their heat comfortably to progress to Saturday's final. Alex Gregory, Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge looked relaxed throughout the race as they finished in a time of 5:50.27 to finish a length ahead of the Romanian crew.However, they face a potent threat. Their main rivals Australia set an Olympic record of 5:47.06 as they dominated their heat earlier in the day."We did what we could achieve. There are definitely a few points that we can work on and push for a few more seconds," said the 33-year-old Triggs Hodge."We are not scared. We know we will be competing with a lot of top-class crews and we are very aware that everyone of them can be a danger. At the start line everyone is a threat."His 28-year-old crewmate Alex Gregory, who was appearing in his first Olympic race, was pleased to have enjoyed a successful debut. "It was a nervous moment for me. I am glad I got that under my belt, it feels good."Earlier in the day, the men's eight produced a commanding victory to seal a place in tomorrow's final. They set a fast early pace and lead from the front to win in a time of 5:26.85, finishing half a boat's length ahead of reigning Olympic champions Canada, with Australia third."The more racing we do the better. We did learn a lot, so it's better to be prepared," said Alex Partridge. "We had a job to do in a certain way, and it was executed well."When asked about the experience which 40-year-old Greg Searle, who won Olympic gold in Barcelona 1992 brings to the squad, Partridge replied: "He's part of the team. We're nine guys, we've got a mission to follow."The women's quadruple sculls made it a clean sweep of British boats qualifying for their respective finals today after they finished third in their repechage."It's a really big relief to be in the final, we got through some very tough race conditions and we're confident in ourselves that the best is yet to come," said Frances Houghton."We like to make the race dramatic and exciting for the spectators. I know we're good enough to be up there and we're going to find ourselves and go out and give our all," she added.Debbie Flood is aware of the challenge they face. "We were favourites at Beijing 2008 and Athens 2004 and we were medalling. We've only had one race together but at the Olympics everything is reset and everyone starts level. We are having to work hard."

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Life is but a dream for Grainger . . .

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