Rio 2016: Team GB rowers win gold and silver on day eight

Team GB's "gladiators" powered their way to an Olympic gold medal in the men's rowing eight, less than an hour after the women's eight won silver in their event.

The medals came on a successful day for Team GB with medals in athletics, track cycling, and swimming.

In the men's eight, the rowers brought Team GB's gold medal haul to eight, while the women gained Team GB's first-ever Olympic medal in their event.

Scott Durant, Tom Ransley, Andrew T Hodge, Matt Gotrel, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Matt Langridge, William Satch and cox Phelan Hill topped the podium in the final race at the Lagoa.

Hodge said of the race: "That was the angriest, the fiercest, ruthless, absolutely everything in that. It was very, very aggressive.

"I mean, that was fist fight as it comes. That was really good."

In the women's event earlier, a late surge saw the women snatch silver from Romania in a thrilling final moment.

Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Polly Swann, Jessica Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, Karen Bennett, Zoe Lee and cox Zoe de Toledo crossed the line in six minutes 3.98 seconds - just 0.12 seconds ahead of the bronze medallists.

Houghton praised all the other women who helped the team get to the podium: "It's not only about us nine girls. There was a group of 14 who came into the team at the beginning of the year.

"For every single one of those girls we were carrying that today."