Hawe eyes Tokyo target
Olympic dream fires Tassie’s rowing world champ
TWO-TIME world champion Sarah Hawe can still remember being fixated on the TV for two weeks during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Next year the Tasmanian star, barring injury, will spearhead the Australian women’s four in Tokyo in her own Olympic debut.
Hawe was still on a high after combining with Lucy Stephan, Katrina Werry and Olympia Aldersey on Saturday night to win the world title in Austria.
The quartet reclaimed the crown they won in 2017 and avenged last year’s Rowing World Championships where they had to settle for silver behind USA.
Now attention turns to the 2020 Olympics, where Hawe and her crew members will enter as gold medal favourites.
“Like a lot of people it would just be realising a childhood dream,” Hawe said of being within touching distance of representing her country at an Olympics.
“I remember the first Olympics I watched actively was ’96 Atlanta and I was just fixated on the TV for the entire two weeks.
“We get three weeks away from the National Training Centre, where we’ll go back to our clubs and home states and have a little bit of a break and then get back into training at our own pace.
“Then we’re back in Penrith getting the hard yards in trying to make selection for Tokyo.
“The Australian women’s four has definitely built a reputation in the last three years so I’m sure there are lots of countries looking at us and wanting to take us down.
“I suppose you’re aware of that, but definitely not focusing on it.”
Hawe described the triumph in Austria, where the Australians led from start to finish to defeat the Netherlands and Denmark, as more satisfying than her maiden world crown two years ago.
“To do it once is an amazing feat but then to come back and get a silver medal last year and not be quite happy with that and to achieve the status of world champion again, a lot of effort goes in and so it’s even more special.
“When we won in 2017 it was very much a come from behind sprint so I suppose we could keep the fans a bit calmer this time.
“We knew we had a strong start and we were going to need that in the race. So we just focused on trying to get out as quickly as we could and then get into our mid=race rhythm.”