New Zealand, Romania and Netherlands won all the gold medals as the Olympic double sculls & fours competitions attained their climax in Paris on Thursday morning, after a thrilling race at Vaires-sur-Marnes Nautical Stadium.

The Kiwi team of Brooke Francis, Lucy Spoors, and Alicia Sullivan held on in the final seconds to beat Romania with a 6:50.45 time, grabbing gold by just 0.24 second.

After their win, the pair paid tribute to the children who had been watching in the crowd.

They're certainly our superpower behind us. We've believed in each other since Tokyo 2020 that we can win the race. Spoors: "It's taken a long time to get here, and I'm still in shock that we've finally done it.

The Dutch men’s double sculls crew took off fast but was quickly beaten by Romania. They had taken the lead at the halfway point and were looking strong, before they lost it.

The Romanians, despite looking exhausted, came back to the front again. They left the Dutch fighting for second with the Ireland crew who had regained their strength. The Dutch were forced to settle with bronze, despite their impressive finish.

Marian Enache, a Romanian woman, said after her victory: "I do not care if I am the gold or the silver medalist. I have respect for every crew that competes against me. "I told them: If they wanted to beat me they had to die."

The Dutch women’s four team finally won gold in the final race after finishing 0.18 second ahead of the British crew.

Hermijnte Drenth, who was behind me, said, "Guys, you won." Tinka Offereins, a member of the Dutch team, said: I looked at the screen too late, and it was us who were in first place. This was not the norm. "I can't believe what I just saw."

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Tom Hogue, Toby Davis and Ken Ferrier) The men's final was the highlight of the day. After dominating the race almost from the beginning, the United States held off New Zealand's late challenge to win gold in 5:49.03. Reporting and editing by Tom Hogue; Toby Davis, Ken Ferris and Ken Hogue)

(source: Reuters)