Rower’s long wait ends

Britain’s Katherine Grainger captured Olympic gold at her fourth attempt, winning the women’s double sculls with Anna Watkins at Eton Dorney yesterday.

The duo won by more than a length in six minutes 55.82 seconds. Australia took the silver medal and Poland the bronze.

Grainger sobbed after winning silver in the quadruple sculls at Beijing, the third straight Olympics where she finished runner-up.

But since teaming up with Watkins in 2010, she has not lost a race and the pair set a new Olympic record in the heats.

“It was worth the wait,” she told the BBC, adding: “It’s just the satisfaction of a job well done.”

Watkins said: “I just can’t believe it, I just had to ask Katherine if it was a dream.”

It was Britain’s second gold of the regatta after Helen Glover and Heather Stanning’s victory in the women’s pair on Wednesday.

Northern Ireland’s Alan Campbell followed up Grainger and Watkins’ success with a bronze in the single scull.

The men’s pair of Will Satch and George Nash also took bronze as Britain’s rowing medal haul grew to six.

There was a fourth medal for Britain in the afternoon when Karina Bryant beat Iryna Kindzerska in the women’s judo +78kg bronze contest.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Jessica Ennis has begun her quest for Olympic glory with a stunning result in the 100m hurdles at the start of the Games’ track and field events.

She won her race in 12.54 seconds — the fastest time ever recorded for the hurdles in the heptathlon. The time would, in fact, have won her the 100m hurdles individual medal in Beijing.

It was the perfect start for the 26-year-old in front of a sell-out crowd at the 80,000-seater Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London.

Ennis, from Sheffield, gave another superb performance in the high jump, clearing 1.86m.

It gave her a 25-point lead over her rivals with the shot-put and 200m heats to follow on day one.

In the tennis, GB star Andy Murray is guaranteed at least a silver medal after beating world No 2 Novak Djokovic in straight sets to reach the final.

The Scotsman faces Roger Federer in what will be a repeat of this year’s Wimbledon final.