British rowers participating in the men's eight in rowing at Beijing Olympics said in Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on Monday that they were satisfied with the result they had achieved during the race.

"The stopwatch doesn't lie and I knew whether or not we were on course throughout the race," British rower Acer Nethercott said in the mixed zone.

"I have no doubt that we were in control of the race," his partner Tom Stallard said.

On qualifying for the final, Matt Langridge, another rower in the British crew, said: "An extra race is always a good thing but equally you never want to lose a race."

He also said that during the race, he just focused on the race.

"It was just a case of staying in our boat, staying focused and racing our race," he said.

The British crew came out the first in heat 2 of the event with a result of 5:25.89, qualifying immediately for the final. The British rowers won the bronze medal in the 2007 World Championship.

A lot is at stake in this event. The United States, Canada are also strong in men's eight. The U.S. crew snatched the gold medal for the event in Athens Olympics in 2004.

(Xinhua News Agency August 11,2008)