It was an emotion charged weekend at the Shunyi regatta centre as AIS and former AIS rowers pushed through to win two Olympic gold medals and an Olympic silver medal sending out a warning that Australia is a force to be reckoned with on the water.

Drew Ginn and Duncan Free went out hard early to hold onto first place as Ginn rowed through immense back pain to win a third Olympic gold medal.  David Crawshay and Scott Brennan could hardly wipe the smile of their faces as they secured their first ever Olympic gold medal in the men’s double skull and the men’s four of James Marburg, Matt Ryan, Cameron McKenzie-McHarg and Francis Hegerty rowed for their lives winning a silver medal.

Ginn missed the Sydney Olympics with a severe back injury, and was almost ruled out of the men's pair final with a similar complaint but, he was determined not to let his fear rule him out of yet another Olympic final.

‘Withdrawing wasn’t an option.  There were a few touch and go moments but the big fella here just kept chugging along, setting up a perfect rhythm making it easier to follow.  With that sort of margin, it was just [a matter of] hanging on’

Crayshaw and Brennan stormed home in victory with the help of a note hand written by Brennan four years earlier after disappointing in the men’s quad.  The note read,

'Next time I race, I'm not just going to win, I'm going to wipe the floor.'

Coach Rhett Ayliffe handed the note back to Brennan just moments before the warm up firing the duo up to claim victory.

The coxless four pushed hard to take the silver.   Having failed to qualify for the eight the ‘reject four’ narrowly scrapped through to qualify for the Olympic team.

Securing a spot in the final the aussie crew proved they were in with a chance. With nothing to lose the four lead the charge over the first 1800m but were edged out by race favorites Great Britain by a mere 1.28 seconds.