South Africa wins gold in men's lightweight


WINDSOR, England (AP) -- South Africa captured its first-ever Olympic rowing gold with a powerful finish to win a closely-fought lightweight men's four on Thursday.
The crew of James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith, Sizwe Ndlovu burst through from lane 5 to catch Denmark, the longtime leader, to win a blanket finish in a time of 6 minutes, 02.84 seconds at Dorney Lake.
Britain just edged the Danes for silver, finishing 0.25 seconds behind South Africa. Denmark took the bronze a further 0.07 seconds back, having won gold in three of the four previous Olympic finals in the lightweight four.
South Africa had only previously won an Olympic bronze in rowing and wasn't one of the favorites for gold here.

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