Golden era signals continuing success
It was an Olympic year to remember for the sport, writes IAN ANDERSON.
IT WASthe row every Kiwi sports fan wanted to see. Four years on from a literally sickening bronze medal in Beijing, Mahe Drysdale rowed to redemption at the London Olympics to put the golden seal on a stunning regatta from the New Zealand team.
The Kiwis captured three golds and two silvers at Eton Dorney, but it was Drysdale’s victory over arch-rival Ondrej Synek in the men’s single sculls final that provided the greatest delight, banishing memories of his third-place finish four years previously, when a stomach bug meant an exhausted Drysdale was unable to grab the gold he was heavily favourite to win.
Even his London triumph didn’t come easily. The 34-year-old had battled back and arthritis problems over the past two years and suffered another major setback before the Olympics when he was knocked off his bike during a training ride in Germany, hurting his shoulder and ribs and stalling his training regime.
But the five-times world champion overcame all setbacks to pull away from his Czech Republic opponent in the second half of the race, raising tired arms in triumph shortly after the finish.
The New Zealand team had high hopes entering the Games after proving in recent years they were a world force, and they backed that up on the water.
As expected, the allconquering pair of Hamish Bond and Eric Murray proved the class acts of the regatta by romping to gold in the men’s pair.
The Kiwi duo had not been beaten since forming their combination following Beijing and had even scared off their biggest rivals at the tail end of 2011. The Great Britain pair of Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge, sick of being beaten by the Kiwis, formed part of a new GB four who also won gold, but the glory was chiefly with Bond and Murray as they set a new world’s best time in their heats before climaxing their four years of dominance with a comfortable win in the final.
New Zealand’s third gold was the most thrilling – the men’s double sculls crew of Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen came from fourth with 500m to row to blaze past their opponents and complete a fantastic three-year run which saw them also triumph at the 2010 and 2011 world championships.
Two of the team’s bronze medallists in London were left seeking new crewmates at the end of 2012. Juliette Haigh announced her retirement this month after she and Rebecca Scown finished third at the Olympics. Peter Taylor and Storm Uru were NZ’s other medallists and Uru is off to Cambridge University to further his studies.
Buoyed by their success, Rowing New Zealand set out their stall towards the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with plans to enter crews in all categories, including men’s and women’s eights.
They look well-placed to continue garnering medals after Kiwi crews won two gold and three bronze at the world under-23 champs in Lithuania, along with a gold and two bronze at the world junior championships in Bulgaria.