Tokyo Olympics: Team GB’s men’s coxless four failure will please predecessors, says Matt Rossiter

Matt Rossiter, a member of the defeated men’s rowing four, has said his illustrious predecessors will be ‘smug’ about their failure in Tokyo.

A line of victory dating back to 2000 ended when the crew of Oliver Cook, Rossiter, Rory Gibbs and stroke Sholto Carnegie were beaten into fourth place.

Australia won as any late charge Britain may have launched was wrecked by erratic steering that nearly saw crash into Italy in the adjacent lane.

Afterwards, Rossiter took aim at the legends, believed principally to include James Cracknell, who won two gold medals in the country’s most famous boat in 2000 and 2004. 

Rossiter, 31, said: ‘It’s just disappointing that those people will probably be really smug now that they are part of the legacy that won.

‘That was a motivation to do well. I hope those people are happy we have not continued the gold run. It did not affect our performance. We managed to shut out the pressure from everything else really well.’

Matthew Rossiter (second left) has slammed critics of he and his fellow coxless four rowers

Rossiter and his team-mates were only able to finish fourth in Wednesday’s final in Tokyo

The Team GB quartet were unable to keep up their record of winning the last five Olympics

Expanding further, Rossiter continued: ‘I’m sure it’s very similar to all sports. You can look back on life with rose-tinted glasses like [former captain] Roy Keane would rather Manchester United didn’t win the [Premier League] league the year he finished.’

It is understood that there is no particular example of a comment by Cracknell that has upset Rossiter so much, and the mood is more a result of a critical undertone to his comments about the team. 

Cracknell has been commentating on the BBC’s coverage of the Olympic rowing in Tokyo and some of his quotes have raised eyebrows, as well as his unrestrained and passionate style.

In the aftermath of the men’s four he said that the team would have been ‘over the moon’ with a silver medal, and also blamed the painful defeat on the absence of revered coach Jurgen Grobler, who retired in the build-up to the Tokyo Games. He also called for the British team in the sculls to ‘stamp on the Italians’ heads’.

GB’s golden run in the coxless fours began in Sydney in 2000 when Steve Redgrave won his fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal, with Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster and Cracknell with him in the boat.

At the Athens Games in 2004, a tearful Pinsent won his fourth Olympic gold, again alongside Cracknell, plus Ed Coode and Steve Williams.

Four years later in Beijing, GB completed the hat-trick as Williams was joined by Tom James, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge.

James, Reed and Triggs Hodge were joined by Alex Gregory for their home Games as the coxless four stormed to victory on Dorney lake at London 2012.

Then, finally, the fifth successive gold in the event was won by Mohamed Sbihi, George Nash, Constantine Louloudis and 2012 winner Gregory.

His stinging criticism is believed to have been aimed at two-time champion James Cracknell

Cracknell (second left) won Olympic gold at the 2000 and 2004 (pictured) Games with Britain

Of the errant steering, Rossiter said: ‘We fully biffed into the Italians. They are pretty p****d off because maybe we cost them the silver and sorry to those guys. 

‘It’s an outdoor sport and this stuff happens. It’s just heartbreaking when it’s you and not something on YouTube.’

Meanwhile, a tearful Cook took responsibility for their steering woes.

‘I do (have the steering),’ he said. ‘I need to diagnose it but I feel I screwed up a bit and as I was closing in at the end and taking big strokes at the end going for the line I forgot the steering and that’s what cost us to be honest, cost us a medal.

‘All I can say is thank you to everyone who stayed up to watch tonight and I’m really sorry we’re not coming back with something.’

Things went bad to worse for Team GB as they steered into the Italian’s lane towards the end

As they began to lose the battle for bronze, the Brits failed to adjust their line across the water 

As a result they veered into Italy’s lane – causing them to miss out on a potential silver medal