Germany win first Rio rowing gold medal

Germany's quadruple sculls team successfully defended their Olympics title to claim the first rowing gold medal of Rio 2016.

Having finished third in the heat, Germany had to come through the repechage to reach the final, which had been postponed on Wednesday because of high winds.

Only one member of the crew - Hans Gruhne - did not feature at London 2012, and he and team-mates Karl Schulze, Philipp Wende and Lauritz Schoof made no mistake in the final.

Taking advantage of a fast start, the German crew built a sizeable gap that proved to be enough despite a late challenge from Australia, who took the silver ahead of Estonia.

Schoof said: "I'm so happy that I could cry. Twice Olympic gold medallist is amazing. I never imagined when I started rowing that I had such a huge chance for success."

That victory was quickly followed by another German success in the women's quadruple sculls - the team of Annekatrin Thiele, Carina Baer, Julia Lier and Lisa Schmidla holding off Netherlands and Poland in a tightly contested race.