Tokyo Olympics 2020: Australia red-hot favourites to take gold in women’s coxless fours

It’s an event with a rich Australian tradition and Tokyo will see a new generation of rowers, this time female, get ready to take on the mantle of the Oarsome Foursome.

“Let it run. Be quick, light and precise and whatever you do - don’t disturb the run. Relax and let the boat fly.”

In all, Australia has qualified nine boats for these Games – one more boat than Rio – and women’s head coach John Keogh is explaining the secret to the women’s coxless four.

After almost 30 years of being left out of the Olympic rowing program, the women will finally have the chance to race for gold and emulate the Oarsome Foursome.

And the Aussie crew of Rosemary Popa, Lucy Stephan, Annabelle McIntyre and Jessica Morrison are red-hot specials to win gold.

Rowing - Sunday Adelaide Oval

In a twist of irony, coach Keogh’s event in which he represented Australia, the lightweight men’s four, has been cut to make room for his crew.

The International Olympic Committee is moving towards gender equity, and the IOC is also aiming to reduce the number of athletes competing at the Olympics.

This change will make for an equal number of women and men competing in rowing at the Olympics — 263 athletes of each gender.

It’s a bitter sweet result for Keogh.

“The four has such a rich history for us dating back to 1992 with the Oarsome Foursome - and our sweep program is so strong that the addition of the women’s four creates another great opportunity for us,” he said.

“The downside is we lost an event, an event I loved and rowed in ... so little bit of mixed emotions but it’s great for our sport to move towards equality and it’s been a long time coming.”

The four combines the speed and power of the eight with the technical proficiency of the pairs and as current world champions, there is great expectation of this particular crew which features two debutants and two Rio Olympians.

“We’ve been working on combinations and to have Annabelle and Jess, our women’s pair, joining the crew, I think has worked well for us ... but it’s hard to know as we haven’t raced internationally for two years.”

The original Oarsome Foursome: Andrew Cooper, Michael McKay, Nicholas Green and James Tomkins after winning gold in Barcelona.

But what Keogh doesn’t want to highlight is some lightning fast times recorded in training recently.

“They are four incredible athletes and they have that bit of magic,” he said.

“Lucy has been with the boat for the past three years, Rosie was in the boat and then out and is back in, Annabelle and Jess are making their Olympic debut ... and they are rowing fast.

“Incredibly fast ... I never went that quick as a lightweight guy.”

WOMEN’S FOUR: Heats start July 24, Sea Forest Waterway, Final July 28.

Dad’s the word for gold medal hopeful

It’s one of the biggest rowing teams of any country with 38 athletes boasting more than 135 World Cup rowing medals, three Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists and ... one dad.

By his admission Cameron Girdlestone, Rio silver medallist and member of the men’s quad, made the most of these postponed Olympics to reconnect with his life outside of rowing.

Which is why, the team cheering on the 33-year-old when he competes in Japan now includes son Paddy.

“Everyone was impacted by the postponement, it was such a weird period for everyone,” Girdlestone said.

“For some athletes it was a chance to get over injuries ... for others it allowed us to get back in contact with other parts of life.

“It was a pause, restart and break.

Rowing - Sunday Adelaide Oval

“You could treat the pause however, you wanted to attack it. I still wanted to go to Tokyo - we had moved down to Canberra from Sydney to be part of the men’s national training centre in 2018.

“I was never going to walk away just because we had to wait another year, I wanted to turn my Rio silver into Tokyo gold.

“Then little Paddy came into our world in January. It was an amazing time for my wife and myself ... my wife and I always planned to have kids and it timing wise, everything fell into place.

“He’ll be cheering me on along with my family.

“But I also have to give a shout out to the Olympic mums managing full-time training and raising their kids.”

The men’s quad are smokeys for a medal and Girdlestone said the times coming out for all crews during their pre-departure camp in Queensland had lifted the energy, if not expectations.

“We have had a great final camp in Rockhampton and unlike a lot of Australian teams because of lockdown we were all able to be together,” he said.

“There’s a lot of self belief at the moment, while we haven’t been overseas competing on the world stage for some time we are going to fly under the radar.

“From that first race we are going to shock the world.”

‘He gets under our skin ... it’s exactly what we need’

The blueprint for gold doesn’t get any simpler for James Rook, the first male coxswain to cox an Australian Women’s Eight at an Olympic Games.

Steer straight and be on weight.

Currently sitting a smidgen above the required 55 kilograms, Rook refuses to reveal how much above.

The 23-year-old and crew member Georgie Rowe are only two who have been part of the boat since 2018.

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He said he received a standing ovation when he turned up for day one of his new gig - and Rowe said he has well and truly earned the applause.

“I love the eight and having James in there yelling at us, getting under our skin ... is exactly what we need.”

“He is managing eight big strong females that all tower over him - and full credit to him. We have a good relationship on and off the water and he’s a good dude.”

The eight was looking for a top five finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for Tokyo.

After placing second in their heat, the boat came through the repechage and led in the final from the start and at all three 500m marks till they were overrun by New Zealand by 2.7 secs.

“We haven’t raced for almost two years but the plan is to get out as fast as we can and getting a rhythm,” she said.

“We want to start in a rhythm that will take us all the way through, we don’t want to react to pushes.

“This is one of the fastest crews I have been involved in internationally.”