Teesside rower wins North East's first gold medal

Teesside's Kat Copeland has won the North East's first gold medal at London 2012, winning the women's lightweight double sculls at Eton Dorney, alongside her partner, Sophie Hosking.

They qualified fastest for the final, and beat China by two seconds to take Team GB's fourth rowing gold, and their tenth in the Games overall.

It's only the second post-war Olympic gold medal for the North East. The first was won by Newcastle's Jonathan Edwards in the Triple Jump at Sydney 2000.

Following her win, Kat told BBC Sport:

Kat, who's a member of Tees Rowing Club, was born in Ashington and now lives in Stockton. She was 14 when she first learnt to row at Yarm School, which has produced a number of GB juniors in the past few years. But she nearly quit rowing two years ago because she wanted to remain in the North East.

Sophie Hosking is a Durham University graduate. The duo only began rowing together this year. They were beaten into second place at the World Cup by Greece, but beat them into third in the Olympic final.

Kat is a world under 23 champion, having won the lightweight women's single sculls last year.