Preston rower Graeme Thomas was proud of efforts despite Olympic heartbreak
Preston rower Graeme Thomas could not disguise his disappointment after suffering another dose of Olympic heartbreak at Paris 2024.
Fourth place is the worst place to finish at the Games and that is where Thomas landed in the men’s quadruple sculls.
It was the latest chapter in the 35-year-old's chequered Olympic history that saw him withdraw from Rio 2016 at the last moment due to illness and finish fourth three years ago in Tokyo.
Thomas combined with Matt Haywood, Callum Dixon and Tom Barras to finish just less than two seconds short of the podium.
"I'm absolutely gutted," said Thomas. "I had a back operation and I’m bloody lucky to be here, but I got myself back in the form of my life, with a few ergo tests that demonstrated that I was in good shape, and I gave it absolutely everything out there today. I’m gutted, but I’m proud of what we did."
The British quartet were always in the race but came up short in a ding-dong battle with Italian and Polish crews, while an imperious Dutch crew went clear for gold.
Haywood said: “With hindsight, it’s easy to look back and pick on things, but I think we have a lot of stuff to be proud of.
“We would be upset if we came off and we were never in the race, and we didn’t give our all. I think we can look at it and say that we did.
“We were definitely up there and in it and we gave it our all, but there were just three better crews out there today and that’s really unfortunate for us. But that’s the way it is.”
Barras added: “We went out and gave it all we had. Fair play to the other three crews, whatever the heartbreak now, we sit here thanks to all the people who helped us get this far.
“The Olympics is the biggest competition on earth, and it means so much, so again well done to the other three crews and thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far.”
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