The huge gold medal gamble that’s already backfired – and it could get worse

Paris: An ambitious move to stack Australia’s rowing men’s eight with three Olympic champions in the hope of finally securing an elusive gold medal in the blue riband event faces its judgment day on Saturday after the much-hyped team scraped through to the final.

The bold decision by rowing selectors earlier this year, opting to shift Tokyo gold medallists Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves and Alex Purnell from the four to chase gold in the eights in Paris, has already come at a heavy price. Australia’s long-time success in the former ended after they missed a podium finish for the first time in 16 years on Thursday.

Australia’s men’s eight.Credit: Getty Images

Starting with the “Oarsome Foursome” in Barcelona in 1992, Australia had only missed medals once. In the event, the crew finished dead last in the final at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium course on Thursday. The United States took gold, followed by New Zealand, with world champions Great Britain relegated to bronze.

Alex Hill, the only remaining member of the Tokyo team who was also part of the silver medal-winning crew in Rio, played down any suggestions the selection had backfired after his own disappointing finish. He also backed the men’s eight to improve on their sketchy form ahead of the final.

“They’ve got really good athletes in that crew, and I’ve got no doubt they’ll turn it around when they go out and race again,” Hill told reporters. “Obvious they’re not where they want to be, but let’s just see what happens. I have confidence in them.”

Hill was joined in the new-look team earlier this year by Jack Robertson, Fergus Hamilton and Tim Masters for this campaign. Despite a promising heat row when they finished second to the US, they were never in the hunt.

Australia’s men’s four crew: Timothy Masters, Fergus Hamilton, Jack Robertson and Alex Hill.Credit: Getty Images

Despite 13 gold medals across various categories, no Australian eight – men’s or women’s – has ever won an Olympic gold medal. Since the men’s eights first raced down the River Seine in Paris in 1900, Australian crews have finished with six medals but never bettered a pair of silvers, in 1968 in Mexico City and Sydney in 2000.

Since the women’s eights event was introduced in 1976, Australia has not managed a podium finish.

‘A nut we have got to crack’

When Rowing Australia performance director Paul Thompson announced his play in March, he said: “The eights are the nation’s boats, and both of those are still a nut we have got to crack.”

But the decision to prioritise gold in the bigger boat looked on shaky ground after the Australians finished fourth in the repechage race, scraping into the final with the slowest qualifying time.

Kendall Brodie, who became the first woman to steer the Australian men’s coxed eight in international competition after rule amendments allowed for coxswains to become gender-neutral in 2018, said while the team had not felt any outside pressure to perform, just making the final alone could not be defined as a success.

Australia’s eights have beaten every nation over the past two years. Hargreaves, Turrin and Purnell joined Angus Widdicombe, Joseph O’Brien, Josh Hicks, Angus Dawson and Ben Canham to lead from start to finish to claim gold in a world cup event in Poland just six weeks ago.

“I think [success would be] ultimately having a race that we can walk away from saying that’s the best that we could do,” Brodie said. “If that lands us a medal, then awesome.”

She said that had not been the case with the team’s races so far this competition, with a second place to Britain in the first heat and fourth in the repechage. She said the crew “didn’t quite execute” its plan in either race but would have a chance to redeem itself in the final.

“I think I don’t think anyone should be going into thinking that they’re safe,” she said. “An eights race is always tight margins,” she said. “There’s no question that it’s going to be last stroke to the line.”

Victorian Jack Robertson, part of the vanquished four’s team, rejected any suggestion the swap had occurred too late and neither crew had been given enough time to gel.

“You learn a lot every single race you’re together, so of course everyone’s going to want to have had more race experience together,” Robertson, 26, said. “We’re not saying that that’s unfair, but of course, it could be useful to have had more races under your belt, but you take the cards you’re dealt. Rowing Australia decided to go with a new combination this year.”

The women’s eight were third to also advance to Saturday’s final, while Tara Rigney finished a close second in her semi-final behind single sculls world champion Karolien Florijn. Rigney is aiming to be the first Australian medallist in the event since Kim Brennan, her close mentor, won gold in Rio in 2016.

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