BEIJING, Aug 16: Australia won two Olympic gold rowing medals on the first day of finals on Lake Shunyi but they could not hold on in the last showdown of the day, losing to Britain in a thrilling final sprint for the line.

New Zealand and Romania also enjoyed a good day on the lake, but China failed in their bid to win their first Olympic rowing gold despite entering the regatta as favourites in several events.

Australia’s Drew Ginn and Duncan Free cruised to victory in the men’s pair after starting as favourites while David Crawshay and Scott Brennan surprised the field to win the doubles.

But it was the men’s four which will dominate the headlines after a thrilling race, with Britain coming from behind to snatch victory on the line to add to their victories in Athens and Sydney.

“We just had a sniff with 200 to go,” Steve Williams said on the side of the course. “We thought we had a chance and we put our heads down. It was probably ugly at that stage, very ugly, just digging deep. It was beyond skills almost, it was so primeval.”

New Zealand twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell also picked up gold to defend their Olympic doubles title in a photo finish, after burning through the Chinese double of Li Qin and Tian Liang who had started as strong favourites.

In the women’s pair, Romania’s Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu won gold to add to their medal tally — Andrunache now has five Olympic gold medals and Susanu four — and they will both contest the eights final on Sunday.

China finished second but they otherwise endured a disappointing day, starting with the women’s single scull.

Zhang Xiuyun had started as one of the favourites after winning the semi-final but was quickly dropped from the field, leaving Bulgaria’s Rumyana Neykova to take gold and complete her collection of silver from Sydney and bronze from Athens.

The men’s single scull was also a tight race, with Norway’s Olaf Tufte coming from behind to beat New Zealand’s three-time world champion Mahe Drysdale who later had to be helped out of his boat and on to a stretcher.—Reuters