The bold late bid to make an Olympic final came up just short for lightweight double scullers Storm Uru and Peter Taylor on the Shunyi course last night.
The two, needing a top-three finish in their semifinal, crossed in fourth place, 1.24s behind third-placed China, who got upwith a solid charge over the last 1000m.
Greek pair Dimitrios Mougios and Vasileios Polymeros dominated the race, shooting clear early on and stretching their advantage as the race progressed.
By the end they had well over a length to spare over Danish world champions Mads Reinholdt Rasmussen and Rasmus Hansen, winning in a sharp 6m 24.61s.
Southlander Uru and Taylor from Wellington were second at the 500m mark, having made a strong start, third at halfway, 3.07s behind the Greeks but had slipped to fifth with 500m to go. They fought hard, got past the Australians but could not catch the Chinese, clocking 6:30.53.
The New Zealanders qualified for Beijing only through the last-chance regatta in Poznan, Poland in June.
Britons Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter won the other semifinal in 6:29.56 from Italy and Cuba.
Their result confirms New Zealand will have five crews chasing medals over the finals weekend.
Emma Twigg led through the first 1500m of her B singles sculls final only to be run down by Sweden's Frida Svensson and end up third. Svensson won in 7:48.19, with Gabriella Bascelli of Italy second and Twigg next, clocking 7:51.63.
Twigg ended her first Olympics ranked No 9 in the world.
