ANDY Hodge will be bidding to win his third Olympic gold medal on Saturday.

The Hebden rower is part of the Great Britain men’s eight who will contest the final after winning their heat on Monday by almost two seconds in a time of 5min 34.23 seconds.

They finished ahead of the Netherlands, New Zealand and Italy with an impressive performance.

Germany, won their heat in the slower time of 5:38.22 as they beat USA who finished second (5:40.16) and Poland (5:42.32).

The 37-year-old Hodge, occupied seat number three in the GB boat. These are his fourth Olympics and after winning golds at Beijing and London in the men’s fours, would love to bring the curtain down on his glittering career with another victory.

Germany may still be the men’s eight favourite, but Great Britain made a statement on Monday at Lagoa Stadium.

“We came onto the field of play today with a really focused, single goal, which was to deliver what we’ve been doing in training,” said Hodge.

“It was a heat, we know we’re gonna make mistakes, but the outcome is we set a standard against the Dutch and we’re really pleased with that.

“We know the Dutch are strong, we know they’re gonna come back fighting hard, so this is by absolutely no means the final race. But for us it was a good stepping stone, and we’re looking forward to these last few days to prepare for the final,” added Hodge.