China (Bronze)
China are the reigning Olympic champions in this boat class and dominated the event in the run-up to the Tokyo Games. They were unbeaten from the start of the 2019 season through to the third World Rowing Cup of 2023, when they failed to make the podium for the first time since 2018. They also failed to defend their world title, coming away with bronze behind GB and the Netherlands. They’ve raced once so far this season, producing an unconvincing third at the Lucerne World Rowing Cup. They are the most experienced quartet in the field, with multiple world titles plus Olympic gold on-board. Both Ling Zhang and Yang Lyu raced at the Rio Games with Lyu finishing 11th in the double and Zhang making the A-Final in the single. Chen made her senior debut back in 2013, although it wasn’t until five years later that she became a regular part of the Chinese squad. Cui also started her senior career 11 years ago and won her first world championship medal in 2014 as part of the bronze medal-winning eight.
The Netherlands (Silver)
The Dutch have been having a ding dong battle with the British for the past two season. They got the better of GB at the 2023 Europeans and Lucerne World Rowing Cup, but lost out to them at the world championships. This season, the Dutch have been forced to play second fiddle to the British at both the first and second World Rowing Cups. They will be keen, just as much as the British, to become the fourth country to win an Olympic quad gold medal. They have been racing together as a unit for most of the 2022 and 2023 season (although they had a slightly different line up for the 2023 Europeans due to injury). Dullemans and Paulis have been racing together since 2019 and Dullemans is the sole survivor from the Tokyo quad that finished sixth. Youssifou and de Jong have been competing together even longer; they won U23 bronze together in the BW2X back in 2015 and De Jong made her senior debut in 2017 with Youssifou joining her the following season.
Great Britain (Gold)
Great Britain are the reigning world champions, taking the title in 2023, a decade after GB last won that crown. So far though, they’ve missed out on the ultimate Olympic crown (only three countries have ever won Olympic gold since the boat went coxless in 1988 – Germany, Ukraine and China). GB will start as favourites in Paris and will hope to make it four countries to have won the Olympic title. Hannah Scott is the only remaining member of the crew that won the B-Final in Tokyo; she spent the 2022 season racing in the single, finishing in an excellent fifth at the world championships. Anderson and Brayshaw were part of the quad in 2022, winning the European championships and taking silver at the world championships. The step change in performance came with the addition of Lauren Henry to the crew in 2023. She had finished fourth in the BW1X at the U23 world championships in 2022, but with the move to the senior team, the blend of athletes just gave the British the small improvement they needed to take them from the minor medals to consistent gold. They had a minor blip at the opening World Rowing Cup, only managing fourth, but at both the Europeans and the second World Rowing Cup they have looked to be the dominant crew in the event.
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