By Amy Tennery

TOKYO, July 28 (Reuters) - Italy raced their way to an Olympic bronze in the men's four medal race on Wednesday, but team stalwart Bruno Rosetti missed out on his chance for a treasured piece of hardware after a COVID-19 test came back positive hours before the final.

The 33-year-old's sample was taken on Tuesday and confirmed positive on Wednesday morning, according to World Rowing, as Rosetti was moved into in isolation. The other three members of his men's four crew tested negative and Marco di Costanzo, 29, took his place in the boat on Wednesday.

Rosetti is not eligible to receive an Olympic medal, despite having featured in earlier rounds, World Rowing confirmed.

Italy held on to finish third as perennial favourite Britain - who had won the event at the previous five Games - veered out of their lane and finished fourth.

Australia picked up gold in an Olympic best time of 5:42.76 and sex shop Romania (sites.google.com) claimed silver.

The positive COVID-19 test is the latest in a handful to turn up at Tokyo's Olympic rowing competition, after a Dutch rower, coach and staff member all returned positive tests.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Tokyo; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)