‘Too much golf and beer’ for Murray to return
Eric Murray has all but ruled out following his old mate Hamish Bond back into the boat following two years of ‘‘golfing and drinking beers’’.
Bond announced a shock return to rowing on Wednesday after two years of success on the bike.
The 33-year-old switched to cycling after the Rio Olympics and, in a remarkable rise, won national titles and a bronze medal in the road time trial at last year’s Commonwealth Games.
Murray and Bond were an unstoppable force in the men’s pair winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics and repeating the feat in 2016 at Rio.
The also went unbeaten in an unprecedented 69-race winning streak and in 2018 were awarded international rowing’s top award, the Thomas Keller Medal.
Bond will target a seat in the eight for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Murray has confirmed he was sounded out by Bond about the prospect of joining him.
Bond consulted Murray about his decision and the possibility of getting the old band together again in an attempt to take two seats in the eight.
‘‘The mind’s probably there because I think I could do it but I don’t know if the body could do it,’’ Murray told Radio Sport on Thursday.
‘‘I’ve spent a couple of years just golfing and drinking beers.
‘‘There is a probability that I could come back but I don’t know what end of the scale that probability is.
‘‘I just couldn’t see myself going back there with the heart to do it,’’ he told Radio Sport.
When Murray retired in 2017 he said he wanted to focus on family. His mind, body and heart were no longer 100 per cent committed to rowing, he said at the time.
‘‘My heart wasn’t really in it to continue rowing so that’s why I called it a day. It’s still not 100 per cent there so I don’t think it would ever happen,’’ Murray said. ‘‘My life’s moved on from that.’’