The British Olympic Association has today announced the rowers who will race in the men's eight at this summer's Rio 2016 Olympic Games in a line-up bristling with World and Olympic Champions and medallists.
Scott Durant, Tom Ransley, Andrew T Hodge, Matt Gotrel, Pete Reed, Paul Bennett, Matt Langridge, Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill are named for Rio today. This crew pressed the German Olympic Champions all the way to the line before narrowly taking silver at last month's world cup in Poland.
Hodge and Reed have twice won Olympic gold in the men's four. Ransley, Langridge and Hill were men's eight bronze medallists in London, while Satch won bronze in the men's pair.
Gotrel, a former international sailor who swapped to rowing at University, Bennett and Durant will be making their Olympic debuts. All three have been in either World gold medal winning crews or on the World podium in other boat classes.
In all three men's eight World finals, the main opposition has come from Germany. However, the Dutch, third at last year's World Championships and winners at the Lucerne World Cup will also prove strong contenders in Rio this summer.
Nathaniel Reilly O'Donnell and Mat Tarrant will provide cover for the Olympic open-weight men's sweep squad. The duo have been World Champions themselves in the eight since London.
Team GB also announced today that Vicki Meyer-Laker will be the reserve for the open-weight women's squad. That brings the total of rowers to 47 and completes the selection for the sport.
The squad will now be focussing on a month of hard training in European-based camps before travelling on to Rio.
The selected athletes are:
Men's Four
Alex Gregory
Mohammed Sbihi
George Nash
Constantine Louloudis
Men's Single
Alan Campbell
Men's Double
Jonathan Walton
John Collins
Men's Quad
Peter Lambert
Sam Townsend
Angus Groom
Graeme Thomas
Men's Pair
Alan Sinclair
Stewart Innes
Men's Eight
Scott Durant
Tom Ransley
Andrew T Hodge
Matt Gotrel
Pete Reed
Paul Bennett
Matt Langridge
Will Satch
Cox of Men's Eight
Phelan Hill
Men's spares
Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell
Mat Tarrant
Women's Pair
Helen Glover
Heather Stanning
Women's Eight
Katie Greves
Melanie Wilson
Frances Houghton
Polly Swann
Jessica Eddie
Olivia Carnegie-Brown
Karen Bennett
Zoe Lee
Cox of Women's Eight
Zoe de Toledo
Women's double
Victoria Thornley
Katherine Grainger
Women's open-weight reserve
Vicki Meyer-Laker
Men's Lightweight Four
Chris Bartley
Mark Aldred
Jono Clegg
Peter Chambers
Men's Lightweight Double Scull
Will Fletcher
Richard Chambers
Women's Lightweight Double Scull
Charlotte Taylor
Katherine Copeland
Lightweight men's spare
Sam Scrimgeour
Mark England, Team GB's Chef de Mission, said: "This is a formidable line-up of experience and quality and no doubt the men's eight will be ones to watch this summer. With the rowing squad now complete, the athletes can focus on final preparations for Rio 2016 and the nation can look forward to more thrilling performances from British rowers at an Olympic Games."
Sir David Tanner, British Rowing Performance Director and Team GB Rowing Team Leader said: "The GB men's eight showed strong form at the season's world cup finale, taking a superb silver and putting the Olympic Champions, Germany, under pressure. We are taking one of our strongest open men's sweep squads to the Games in Rio and the men's eight is one of our headline crews."
Matt Langridge said: "It's great to be officially selected in the eight, I'm very confident that this group of guys have what it takes to win in Rio, and with Jurgen's programme we'll be in the best possible shape come Rio."
Scott Durant said: "It feels great to be selected, but now the real work begins."