Gutted Grainger takes Olympic silver for the third time

9:57am Sunday 17th August 2008

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MARLOW'S Katherine Grainger suffered crushing disappointment as she had to settle for her third consecutive Olympic silver.

The three times World Champion was hoping to make it Olympic rowing gold as well when she lined up in the quad sculls this morning.

And for a long time it looked so good as the British boat pulled away from hosts and favourites China.

At 500m they led by three-quarters of a length and they still had a half length lead at the halfway point.

But the Chinese came fighting back and even though it looked at one stage as though the British boat had held them off the Chinese came storming through to take the victory.

Grainger, 32, looked disconsolate at the finish.

Marlow's five-times Olympian Steve Redgrave, who was waterside, felt her pain.

He said: "One silver is a great achievement but when you keep getting silver it's devaststaing. It is extremely tough on all of them."

Grainger and her team-mates Frances Houghton, Annie Vernon and Debbie Flood were fighting their tears afterwards.

Grainger said: "We believed we could do it. I want to go back to the start and try again.

"We let it slip away at the end.

"It was 100 per cent from everyone but we couldn't quite get it right."

Although Grainger was hugely disappointed she can still take pride in winning Marlow's second medal of the morning.

Her disappointment came just half an hour after the town's Zac Purchase struck Olympic gold with partner Mark Hunter in the lightweight double sculls.