Corkman inspires Greece to rowing bronze

Corkman John Holland has given host nation Greece what he narrowly failed to secure for Ireland at Atlanta 1996 - a first ever Olympic rowing medal.

The 57-year-old coach, who agonisingly watched Ireland's lightweight four fail to close a four-second gap on bronze medalists Denmark eight years ago, has been working his magic on Vasileios Polymeros and Nikolaos Skiathitis, at the behest of the Greek Rowing Federation, for a year-and-a-half.

And his star pupils rewarded him this morning at Schinias with a bronze medal performance in the lightweight double sculls.

Ironically it was the event in which Sam Lynch, seated two in Holland's Atlanta crew, and Gearoid Towey were favoured for a podium finish.

While Poland retained their Olympic crown in 6:20.93, the Greeks, both from the port of Volos, edged clear of Denmark for bronze in 6:23.23.

The Greek pair have shown a distinct improvement since finishing a distant 11th at last year's World Championships in Milan. In another twist, Olympic Council of Ireland President Pat Hickey made the medal presentation.

Holland, who was coaching in UCD up until last winter, is still a keen athlete and finished eighth in his chosen event at last November's Irish Indoor rowing championships.