Aussie quad unable to break golden drought

The hot favourite quad men's sculls crew have been unable to break Australia's eight-year rowing Olympic gold medal drought, relegated to silver in Rio by some German rowing precision.

Karsten Forsterling, Sasha Belonogoff, Cameron Girdlestone and James McRae went into the final at Lagoa Stadium unbeaten this year but couldn't match the defending Olympic and world champions.

The Germans got off to a flying start and despite the Australians being renowned for their fast finish, they were left with too much work to do in the strong head-wind and fell short by 0.15 seconds with Estonia third.

The crew couldn't hide their disappointment at missing gold, slumped in their boat once they'd crossed the line.

McRae said the Germans' race plan was superior.

"If we knew it was going to be such a strong headwind we might have altered the gearing but the Germans' race plan was best on the day," McRae said.

"They're world and Olympic champions and they had to do something pretty special to beat us and they did that.

"We put together a pretty reasonable race and they were best on the day."

Belonogoff said they weren't able to build the momentum they needed to catch the pace-setters but Olympic silver was still something to savour.

"It's awesome to go home with a little souvenir," Belonogoff said.

"It would have been nice if it was gold but we did what we could."

The oldest rower in the Australian team, 36-year-old Forsterling, who won bronze in the event in London along with McRae, has ruled out continuing to Tokyo in 2020 but the remainder of the crew may stick together.

In the men's four, Australia laid down the challenge to Great Britain, who have won the last four Olympics.

The Australians blitzed their semi-field, leading from start to finish to book a place in Friday's medal race.

The Brits won the other semi-final but the Australians were more than five seconds faster.

Crew member Will Lockwood said they were satisfied with their performance.

"We just wanted to win and our plan was to go out fast," Lockwood said.

"It's nice to lay down a couple of faster times than the British crew already but you can't really compare because we don't know what they were doing in their race.

"All we know is that they are going to throw down 100 per cent in the final and so are we."

In the final of the men's pair Australians Spencer Turrin and Alex Lloyd were no challenge for all-conquering Kiwis Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who haven't lost a race since 2009, finishing last.

The women's eight, who were only included in the field late last month following the disqualification of Russia, missed the medal race after finishing last in their repechage.

But crew member Meaghan Volker said they were thrilled with their effort to only just miss the final with such a short preparation.

"It was incredible to row in the Olympic Games," she said.

"It was an amazing rollercoaster but we've ridden every turn and to finish on that note we're really pleased."