The men who beat him to the line were the two who have dominated the last few years of international sculling, and two of his best friends. New Zealander Mahe Drysdale was encouraged into a sculling boat by Campbell’s own coach, Olympic medallist Bill Barry, and Drysdale is a member of Campbell’s own club, Tideway Scullers in Chiswick.
Then it was a scrap for bronze, with the dangerously sprinting Swede Lassi Karonen coming up fast and initially passing Campbell. But the Brit dug in, found one more drop in his nearly-empty tanks, and mounted his own sprint, to 39 strokes a minute, to get back past Karonen and onto the podium.
Campbell, his legs quivering with lactic acid build-up, could barely get out of his boat for his media appearances, and leaned on Sir Steve Redgrave, who came down to the raft to support the man who had won a medal for Britain in the discipline Redgrave himself always wanted to excel at.
Eventually Campbell found the energy to get back in his boat and row to the medal dock, not wanting to be carried to this ultra-special occasion.
On the podium, moved to tears by the acclaim of the crowd, Campbell received an uncharacteristic hug from Denis Oswald, president of the rowing federation and a vice-president of the IOC, as the medal was draped round the Irishman’s neck.
While he was receiving it, Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger were taking an extended tour around the lake to thank the fans, which Campbell then joined. Excellence on the lake again, a very special day.
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