Romania, Britain win rowing eights golds

VAIRES-sur-MARNE, France: Romania dominated the women´s eights final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, as Britain outduelled the Netherlands to take gold in the men´s race.

In the women´s event at Vaires-sur-Marne, the Romanians trailed Canada at the 500m mark but then upped the pace and pulled away, winning by nearly 4.5 seconds in a time of 5min 54.39sec.

Reigning champions Canada took silver and Britain won bronze.

The men´s race was a tighter battle between Britain and the Netherlands.

Britain swapped the lead with the Dutch in the early stages before surging ahead at the halfway stage of the 2,000m race.

The British boat crossed the line in 5:22.88, with the Dutch just over a second behind. The USA took bronze.