“I made my first trip back to London in the summer of 2020 and it was like seeing the city from completely different eyes. I remember being at a pedestrian crossing and seeing the little green man figure thinking ‘not everyone walks’!” said the three times Olympic Gold medalist who has used a wheelchair himself since suffering from a spinal stroke in 2019, the year after he retired from international rowing.

He has teamed up with Transport for London (TfL) to introduce wheelchair user traffic light signals across London in Earl’s Court, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Tower Hill and Whitechapel. These venues were chosen because they’re close to busy Tube stations that offer step-free access. The new signals have been installed by Yunex Traffic at no cost ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Sunday, 3 December.

TfL worked with its Independent Disability Advisory Group (IDAG) and other key disability campaigners to ensure that the signs reflect the diversity of wheelchair users. Two of the designs show someone using an independently controlled manual wheelchair and another depicts a person using an electric wheelchair.

Reed added, “I’m hoping the campaign will open people’s eyes to the value of making their businesses and hospitality accessible for wheelchair users,” adding that there’s a large disabled population in London and beyond, for whom access and ease of travel is essential to make the most of the city.

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Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis laid down a strong marker in their opening Olympic men’s four heat here at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas in Brazil.  They built on an early lead to win in 5:55.59 and move into Wednesday’s semi-finals.

“I feel like a pressure valve has been released”, said Gregory  It’s been a lot of waiting but it was good to get the job done”.

Nash added: “It was good to get that one under our belts and out of the way”.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning experienced a much tighter affair, coming through a stiff Danish challenge to win their opening heat of the 2016 Olympic regatta in 7:05.05.
The Olympic, World and European Champions saw the danger in the final 250m and needed a powerful flourish at the end to secure the win.

Stanning said:  “The important thing today was to get into the semi-finals and we did that.  It definitely wasn’t a bad row but it wasn’t an exceptional row either”.

Glover added:  “On time and on margin that was a tough race but we have experienced having to dig deeper in other races and in training”.

The GB women’s eight paced their heat to perfection to break through a New Zealand lead in the final 500m to win and take a place in Sunday’s final.  The win was revenge for their defeat to the Kiwis at the season’s final world cup.

GB’s men followed up with a commanding performance to win their eights heat in 5:34.23 to move straight through to Sunday’s final.

“We have put in a lot of hard work over the past two months and I think it’s beginning to show”, said Pete Reed.

“They are all very, very good crews here. The final is going to be an incredible race”, added Paul Bennett.

Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers secured their semi-final slot with second place in their lightweight men’s double heat behind South Africa.

Chambers talked on behalf of the crew whilst his crew-mate Will Fletcher was called to anti-doping. “Today was good but not good enough. I know we can do better. We didn’t settle as well into our rhythm as we have been doing in training.  It was probably just the excitement of an opening heat at the Olympic Games”.

Kat Copeland and Charlotte Taylor did not get the result they wanted today as they were fifth in their heat and now race a repechage of the lightweight women’s double scull.
Taylor said: “I guess the disappointing thing is that we haven’t shown what we can do.  We need to deconstruct what we have just done and put it all back together again for tomorrow’s repechage”.

Earlier the GB men’s quadruple scull warmed GB hearts as they overcame recent bad luck to reach the Olympic final, taking second place in their repechage. As Jack Beaumont, Sam Townsend, Angus Groom and Peter Lambert crossed the line there was probably a bit of Graeme Thomas – the man who had to go home ill  – with them as they became the first GB crew to reach a final here in Brazil.

“It hasn’t been the ideal preparation but I’m very happy for the three guys behind me in the stroke seat as well as for Charles (Cousins) and Graeme (Thomas) who helped get us here”. said Lambert.

John Collins and Jonny Walton were also in much better racing fettle today as they powered into the semis of the open men’s double scull with a win in a tensely-contested repechage.

For further information about this report please contact the GB Rowing Team press officer, Caroline Searle, via comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk OR the phone numbers in the contact box below.

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Every crew from every nation had to dig deep in the strong cross-winds which meant winning came ugly rather than with finesse.

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the women’s pair to defend successfully their European title by some margin while the new-look 2016 men’s four of Alex Gregory, Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis controlled the conditions better than the opposition as well as having the power to take victory by just over a length.

Sbihi said:  “I didn’t need to call for a big push at the end. We had the length at the end.  They were tough conditions. Every time we got some boat-speed the wind hit us but you have to deal with the conditions on the day”.

Gregory said:  “It was very hard to do what we normally try to in training but it was a real test of our boatmanship. I am really pleased with the start we have made and I am excited to find out what we can do from here”.

Constantine Louloudis, George Nash, Moe Sbihi and Alex Gregory

Helen Glover and Heather Stanning crowned European Champions earlier this month.

Glover said:  “There were waves coming over my back at the start but racing here has up-skilled us.  We may have cross-wind conditions in Rio so it was good to race in them”.

Stanning added:  “We may be an experienced crew but we’re not experienced in these conditions.  So we had to concentrate”.

The GB’s women’s eight added a fabulous third gold when they smashed through the Dutch leaders with about 10m to go.

“The speed with which we were able to come through at the end was the special bit.  We have a lot of speed in this boat”, said Olympian Katie Greves who is clearly excited about this crew.

“Everyone did their job and stayed calm even though we were a length down’, said Zoe Lee, the stroke of boat. “It’s a privilege to row with these women”.

Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour

Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes

Sir David Tanner,  GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said:  “It’s been a day of mixed fortunes for the team with some exceptional performances especially our four golds.

“Conditions have bordered on the extreme and have bene a tough challenge for all nations but we are an outdoor sport and have to accept that. It’s now onto Lucerne for the World Cup in late May where we will hope for calmer water”.

Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes added silver to the GB tally of four golds, two silvers and a bronze, in the men’s pair. They beat the Dutch who should have been their main opposition only to lose out on gold to Hungary who surged through at the end.  “I’m disappointed’, said Innes afterwards. “We came here to win”.

Sinclair added:  “Those were tough conditions.  I still think we have our best rowing to come”.

Chris Bartley, Mark Aldred, Jono Clegg and Peter Chambers were beaten to gold only by the reigning World Champions Switzerland in the light men’s four.  Their silver came in a time of 6:47.73 and was a big step on from their ninth place at last year’s World Championships.

Bartley said:  “After last year we are pretty pleased with that start”.  Aldred added:  “We have worked hard and made a lot of improvements over the winter”.

Chris Bartley, Jono Clegg, Peter Chambers and Mark Aldred

The men's eight

The men’s eight, a new line-up in 2016, took bronze in the last race of the day in a race won by Germany with Russia taking silver.

“That was an exciting race.  In terms of eights racing that’s about as exciting as it can get with several crews having had the lead at various times”, said World Champion Paul Bennett afterwards.

In the opening race of the day GB’s Sam Scrimgeour and Joel Cassells were emphatic winners of lightweight men’s pair gold, in one of the sport’s International Class events.  They got out to an early lead and went on to seal victory with style.  The victory meant a European title to add to Scrimgeour’s 2015 World gold and a successful title defence for Casseslls.

GB had 13 crews in today’s finals and took four golds, two silvers and a bronze. The next big event for the GB Rowing Team will be the world cup in Lucerne from May 27-29.

For reaction to this report and interview requests please contact the GB Rowing Team press office on site:  comms@gbrowingteam.org.uk or 07831 755351 or 07765 071683.

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