Katherine Granger, a graduate in Law and medical Ethics, took the Olympic silver medal for women's pairs rowing in Athens yesterday, with her partner Cath Bishop. The pair finished 1.20 seconds in front of bronze medallists, Belarus, and only 2.02 seconds behind the winning Romanian pair - an exhilarating finish after trailing in fourth place for much of the race.

As a team silver medallist in Sydney 2000, Grainger is now the only British woman to win two Olympic medals in rowing. Commenting on yesterday' success, she said: 'It is bitter-sweet not to have won it but you can't be disappointed with a silver medal. We believed in it from the start and I think we have proved our point.'

Kate Richardson (media@gla.ac.uk)

First published: 24 August 2004