Rowing: Fours fail in medal bid

The New Zealand coxless four failed in their bid to win an Olympic medal as Olympic history was made in their rowing final today.

Rob Hellstrom, Toni Dunlop, Scott Brownlee and Dave Schaper dropped to the tail of the field in the early stages and couldn't make up ground as the race went on, falling further and further back to finish sixth and last.

Their time of six minutes 09.13 seconds was nearly 13sec behind winners Great Britain. They were more than 6sec behind the fifth-placed United States crew. Like Sonia Waddell earlier in the day, they couldn't repeat the time they achieved in their semifinal two days earlier.

It was a disappointing result for the New Zealand four who were second at two world cup meets in Europe three months ago and hoped to have improved further since.

Great Britain hit the front early and held off a late Italian challenge to win gold, with defending champions Australia third.

Briton Steve Redgrave became the first man to win rowing gold medals at five consecutive Olympics. He was hugged by emotional team-mates and swamped by the world media after reaching the milestone.

- NZPA