Timing must be right
The one criticism aimed at a highly successful Rowing New Zealand programme in recent years has been over timing.
At the two world championships either side of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Kiwi boats won 16 medals – half of them gold.
But at the sport’s absolute pinnacle, there were ‘only’ three Olympic medals – two gold and silver.
So the worst performance by a New Zealand team at a world championships in 15 years in Bulgaria last week may be forgotten in two years if that result is improved at the Tokyo Olympics.
It’s a key tenant of a Rowing NZ review ‘‘so we can refresh and continually improve to maintain our place as world leading in the high performance environment’’.
That’s sound reasoning, given a number of Kiwi boats excelled at the two World Cup regattas in Europe earlier this year only to come up short at the season’s premier regatta.
That review saw long-serving high performance director Alan Cotter step down – although following that announcement he still oversaw the team at Plovdiv last week, where the return was two silvers (women’s double scullers Olivia Loe and Brooke Donoghue and women’s pair Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast) and a bronze (men’s double scullers Chris Harris and John Storey).
That trio were all defending their 2017 world champs golds, so there’s no doubt the Kiwi team which collected seven medals in the US last year and nine in 2015 has been usurped – for now.
It’s also notable that the three Rio Olympic medal-winners are no longer there. Mahe Drysdale has been moved from the single scull to the quad – which recorded an encouraging fourth place in Plovdiv – while the unconquerable men’s pair of Eric Murray and Hamish Bond ended their run when Murray retired and Bond switched to cycling. Genevieve Behrent hasn’t rowed since she and Rebecca Scown won silver in the women’s pair, while veteran Scown sat out this season with no guarantee of a return to the top level.
What may also be missing is some of the $5.1 million annual funding Rowing New Zealand currently receives if there’s no improvement in Tokyo.
The code has been the bestfunded by High Performance Sport New Zealand – and therefore this country’s taxpayers – for a number of years and by being a tier one sport – along with cycling, yachting and athletics – has that figure guaranteed until the next Olympic cycle.
Rowing New Zealand isn’t the only organisation in the same boat – fellow world rowing powerhouse Great Britain will be reviewing their efforts in Bulgaria after winning just four medals, with their only gold coming in a para-rowing class.
The US led the medal count with 10, ahead of Italy’s eight while Australia impressed with seven medals.