The smiles and congratulations after gold was awarded belied the anxious moments shared by Rob Waddell and coach Richard Tonks midway through yesterday's final.
Swiss defending champion Xeno Mueller, who beat Waddell the last time they raced, put in a powerful surge from the 500m to 1500m mark to open up
a half-second lead.
With his legs beginning to tie up, Waddell shot a nervous look at his opponent before reaching the three-quarter point of the 2000m race.
``I thought in the middle of the race I was feeling stretched, but you just have to keep hanging in there,'' he said.
``In the benefit of hindsight, it wasn't so much my kick that won it. It was more that Xeno had given it heaps for the first half of the race and I was lucky I had a little bit more left than him.''
Waddell said it had been an anxious time since Mueller beat him at the world cup regatta in Vienna in June.
``It's on your mind all the time. And I guess you have to look at what he did in Atlanta ... it was an amazing race from him there.
``Xeno is a tough competitor, he's a great rival and I've got a lot of admiration and respect for the way he came out.''
Tonks admitted to some concern as the race neared its climax.
``We really wanted to hit the front in the first 500m so when (Mueller) went through the 1500m still ahead it was a bit of a worry,'' Tonks said.
``If Xeno went too far down and they both started sprinting then he could easily have got to the line.''
Tonks said memories of the 1998 world cup race in Lucerne came flooding back as the pair duelled through the middle stages.
``In that race they went head-to-head like that and Xeno had his nose in front and it stayed the same.
``In this race Rob had to scrap all the way and he can take satisfaction that he rowed a good hard race to win an Olympic final, it was no walk in the park.''
The Swiss champion thought the race could be his with 500m to go.
``At 1500m it was a beautiful row, I wasn't tiring at all. I was able to settle into a cruising speed,'' said Mueller, who believed a cold he picked up two weeks earlier in Queensland contributed to his fading over the last quarter.
Both Waddell and Mueller said they were keen to continue to the 2004 Games in Athens, ensuring no rest for either.
- NZPA
