There was no fairy-tale comeback for the South African rowers tipped as possible medal prospects in the men’s four.
After a disappointing heat on Saturday, the quartet of Lawrence Brittain, Kyle Schoonbee, John Smith and Sandro Torrente had one last chance to secure a spot in the final when they contested Sunday's repechage, but finished in last place with Romania and the Netherlands claiming the all-important top two spots.
“They’re devastated. The four is a close boat and they’ve really gone through a lot this year… They’ve been world-class and so to end it like this – we were nowhere – it’s devastating for them,” said national coach Roger Barrow afterwards.
“We must be flat. It’s been a long road and we’ve been away for so long. It’s just sad that we have to go out like that…. When you’re rowing 10 seconds out the back, it’s just not who we are,” he added.
“We’ve had such amazing support from people at home so it’s sad letting them down. Team South Africa is having a tough time and we certainly wanted to give our best shot so it’s so disappointing that we came here to do well but we’ve ended up with that result.”
This will be the first Olympics since 2008 that the South African rowing team will leave the Games without a medal after the men's pair of Luc Daffarn and Jake Green also finished last in their repechage.