Women's rowing pair bring home medal

Kiwi rowing pair Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown have won bronze in London.

The duo were in the silver medal position for most of the race before being pipped by the Aussies, while also having to hold off the USA.

Great Britain stormed to victory for the host nation's first gold medal of the games.

Haigh says they had to leave everything on the water.

"Today's a day I've got to put it together and I feel like we did. We took a risk in the first 1000, going out harder than we ever have before. In the second 1000, we were hanging on. And at the end there, it was just emptying the tank. Really happy to come away with a bronze medal."

Scown says the last 500 metres were the hardest she's rowed.

"I was just waiting for it to end, just waiting for it to end. I was trying to put in as many strokes as I could. You can feel them coming, you can feel the pressure coming on. So you have just got to try and lift your rowing and just move the boat as fast along as you can."

Haigh has previously finished 5th and 6th in Olympic finals.

Mahe Drysdale and the men's pair are through to their finals.

Photo: Photo Sport