Whitlam and Thornley in today's Olympic final (From Warrington Guardian)

Olivia Whitlam and Victoria Thornley in today's Olympic final

9:47am Thursday 2nd August 2012 in Sport By Mike Parsons

OLIVIA Whitlam and Richard Egington's girlfriend take centre stage at London 2012 today.

Whitlam, aged 26, will contest the women's eight Olympic rowing final with TeamGB on Lake Dorney at 12.30pm.

Perhaps additional motivation, if any was needed, will be taken from yesterday's successes at Eton Dorney.

That included a bronze medal for Warrington 33-year-old Egington in the men's eight showdown.

Egington's partner Victoria Thornley, aged 24, of Chester, will be alongside Daresbury's Whitlam as they seek improvement from their qualifying performances.

They go into the final as the slowest qualifiers and will be in lane six.

TeamGb will be racing, in lane order, Australia, Netherlands, USA, Canada and Romania.