IT was silver in the Olympics for the granddaughter of local resident, 99-year-old Ivy Davies. Caryn Davies was a member of the USA women’s eight who trailed in behind the Romanian boat and narrowly beat the Netherlands.

The 22-year-old visited Guernsey in 2000 as a junior world rowing champion when she commented that locals have some of the roughest seas to contend with.

The American boat had qualified fastest for the final and went in on the back of two wins in recent world events.

She was five seat in the boat which led by fractions of a second halfway through the 2,000m race, but faded before 1,500m.

There was more success for the Americans when their men’s eight won 20 minutes later.

‘The fact that we’re doing well now hopefully means more people will stay in the sport longer,’ she said.

‘That’s one reason the Romanians have so much experience and have won so many medals.’