Tokyo 2020 - 'I gave it my all but it wasn't enough in the end' - Victoria Thornley reacts to single sculls fourth place
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Updated 30/07/2021 at 03:40 GMT
Thornley's near miss contributed to Team GB's worst rowing performance at an Olympics since Sydney 2000. The Welsh woman, who took silver alongside Katherine Grainger in the double sculls at Rio 2016, was edged out narrowly by Austria's Magdalena Lobnig for the bronze. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+
'That was the best I had today' - Despondent Thornley reflects on fourth-placed finish
Victoria Thornley has said she gave her best performance in the final of the women's single sculls despite narrowly missing out on bronze.
On the final day of action at Sea Forest Waterway at Tokyo 2020, Thornley was pushed into fourth place by Austria's Magdalena Lobnig.
It is Team GB's best finish in any single sculls final at an Olympics, and Thornley confessed she felt bronze was the best she could achieve.
"You try to stay internal in your own boat but you have an awareness and I was pretty certain going into it that I was racing for bronze today," Thornley told Eurosport's Radzi Chinyanganya after her race.
"I committed to racing for the bronze and I knew the Austrian [Lobnig] would be the one to beat for that.
"She is a fantastic athlete and I have raced her for five years now and we have traded places. She’s got this one."
The result contributed to Great Britain's worst Olympics in rowing since Sydney 2000.
The Men's Eight did manage to win a bronze medal from the final event on the water at this Olympics, but that was one of just two medals Britain managed to win, along with a silver in the men's quadruple sculls.
Ahead of Lobnig and Thornley, New Zealand's Emma Twigg finally took an Olympic medal as she triumphed at her fourth Games.
The twice-retired Twigg had finished fourth in the single sculls at London 2012 and five years ago in Rio de Janeiro.
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TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 30: Victoria Thornley of Team Great Britain reacts after coming in fourth during the Women's Single Sculls Final A on day seven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Sea Forest Waterway on July 30, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Naomi Ba
Image credit: Getty Images
Thornley, meanwhile, felt she gave it her all in pursuit of a medal, but wondered if she perhaps misjudged her own race tactics.
“I gave it my all but in the end there wasn’t much more I could do," explained the 33-year-old,
"I haven’t had a chance to think about it massively but I’m wondering if I could have maybe not let the race get too much ahead in the first half but I trusted my second half strength and I did come back up.
"I think I went a tad too early. That last 100 metres, I think I lost it there.
"That was the most I had today and that was good enough for fourth place. It is a hard place to come, but it’s what I could do today."
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