By Philip O’Connor
PARIS (Reuters) – Britain’s brilliant performance to win the gold medal in the men’s eights on the final day of rowing left coxswain Harry Brightmore jumping for joy, but he made sure not to fall into the water ahead of the medal ceremony a few minutes later.
The 30-year-old steered his crew to victory in a race they dominated, cruising home ahead of the Netherlands and the United States thanks to their consistent strong stroking and Brightmore’s very vocal encouragement.
“These guys are masochists and they like to be told, even when they’re in the depths of pain, that they can put out more, so it’s my job to crack the whip basically,” an elated Brightmore told Reuters.
“Even though it was nip and tuck and we were a little bit ahead at certain points, we needed more – we needed to be totally ruthless, especially in that second half of the race.”
It was a game plan that worked as the British crew’s rhythmic rowing and pacing prevented the Dutch and Americans from closing the gap, leaving them to battle for second place.
The twice world champion cox said his shouting was mostly motivational, but there was some old-fashioned coaching in there too.
“Absolutely, there’s technical stuff in there, because obviously when these guys are trying as hard as they are, there’s elements of the pattern and in the rhythm that could fall apart, so I’ve got to keep them really dialled into rowing as cleanly and as technically as possible when they’ve got tunnel vision,” he explained.
Whether Brightmore was correcting them or encouraging them, his crew were all ears.
“The only thing you can hear is his voice – I don’t remember anything (about the race), other than like three of the things that he said,” rower Tom Digby told Reuters.
Brightmore’s frenetic bawling gave way to unadulterated joy as the crew crossed the line in the gold medal position, but he was careful not repeat the celebration of Britain’s gold-medal winning cox Rowley Douglas at the Sydney Games in 2000 to stay dry for the medal ceremony.
“I don’t think I was going to jump in today, but I definitely let the emotions get the better of me – I just had to see everyone’s face and I had to stand up and just congratulate everyone when we crossed the line.
“But I wasn’t going to fall in, so it was fine,” he added with a broad smile.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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