Team GB’s men’s pair are the best athletes in the world but still need to prove they have got what it takes to win, says double Olympic champion James Cracknell.

Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George won bronze as part of the men’s eight at Tokyo 2020 before becoming a dynamic duo.

The reigning European champions, Wynne-Griffith and George have twice failed to top the World Championship podium. 

“Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith in the men’s pair are physically the best athletes by far,” Cracknell, who'll be working with Eurosport and discovery+ for their Olympics rowing coverage, said.

“Not only in the British team but also in the world, their lung capacity is huge and I am full of respect for them because they are the two best athletes.

“But in the last two World Championships they got a bronze and a silver whereas the other boats got gold.

“So in some ways they could have gone to a different event and backed themselves as the best athletes but they didn’t, they stayed in the men’s pair.”

Cracknell is backing Team GB to return to the top of the medal table, having failed to win a single gold in rowing for the first time since Munich 1980 with only silver and bronze in Tokyo.

He believes the men’s pair will be a key part of that, and are in great shape, with victories in all three of their races this season.

Cracknell added: “They have been the best athletes and not come away with the gold yet so it would be a real testament to them backing themselves and their self-belief if they win in the pair. 

“Their best is far better than anyone else’s best, but it is fine on paper, you have got to go out there and do it. 

“The last two years will have hurt them, they are unbeaten this year and yeah, I fancy them.”

Britain topped the medal table at the European Championships this year and at the 2022 World Championships as they have successfully rebuilt from a difficult performance in Tokyo.

All of the rowing action will be live on Eurosport and discovery+ who will deliver the ultimate, multi-platform Games experience with every moment of Paris 2024 available live, across all 19 days of competition.

“I think we could and will top the medal table for both the men and the women and to do that you will need five gold medals,” Cracknell predicted.

“But then you are relying on every one of those boats performing properly! 

“But I would say four or five would be my prediction and that would be an amazing result coming off none in Tokyo.”

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