9:23am Saturday 16th August 2008
DARESBURY rower Olivia Whitlam finished sixth with partner Louisa Reeve in the final of the Olympic women's pair rowing final on Saturday morning.
Whitlam, aged 22, and Londoner Reeve only joined forces to compete in the pair earlier this year and were not expected to medal.
They had done well to make the final in Beijing and have been tipped for greater things in London 2012.
Whitlam and Reeve made a strong start to the 2,000-metre women's pair final and were briefly in the medal positions in the six-boat field but slipped to fourth place at the 500-metre mark.
By 1,000 metres they were in fifth place and their opponents just had too much power for them as they slipped to sixth by 1,500 metres.
They finished the race in sixth in 7mins 33.61secs, with Romania taking gold in 7mins 20.60secs.
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