KEY POINTS:
Mahe Drysdale versus Rob Waddell - where do you stand on it?
Early yesterday morning, I was right in the Drysdale camp. Come on Mahe, you've led the way in keeping our good name afloat while Waddell was down the yacht club. So Mahe, you've earned a crack
at the Beijing Olympic gold.
Then Waddell did the seemingly impossible and blitzed Drysdale in their Lake Karapiro showdown yesterday and suddenly I was flinging it about in the Waddell camp. What a great champion, and how on earth did he make a comeback like that? What a freak.
I will say this in what has emerged as a fascinating battle for the Olympic selection - I would feel a tad sorrier for Drysdale than Waddell should the younger man miss out on this crack at Olympic single sculls gold.
As the current triple world champion, Drysdale surely deserves his first shot at Olympic singles glory. Then again, Waddell was quite within his rights to dip his oars out of the water for a while.
Because if ever a sport was an excruciating pain in the you know what, and every other part of the body, it is rowing.
I've talked to both of these men over the years and the thing that really sticks in the mind from those interviews is that rowing is a constant journey which carries them and others thousands of strokes past what the rest of us would consider a reasonable pain barrier.
In Drysdale's case, he talked about the realities of a training regime which left him smashed and in a zombie-like state for months on end. My interview with Waddell occurred after he had just broken another indoor record in America, and his description of the horrendous after-effects made me feel ill.
Quite frankly, it is beyond belief that men and women can drive themselves to such physical and mental extremes, especially in sports of inherent monotony.
The bottom line is that Waddell deserved a break, and it is a tribute to his remarkable athletic and mental ability that he could return to the water and immediately dunk the undisputed champion of the world and get to within a few seconds' of Drysdale's world record. Utterly amazing.
What a remarkable time for rowing, because the weekend also witnessed the Evers-Swindells going bow for bow in the women's race, with Caroline pipping Georgina.
But it's the men's event, with two greats of world singles sculling battling it out, that drew hordes to the water's edge yesterday.
Does the double world and 2000 Olympic champion Waddell - whose feats inspired Drysdale to rip into rowing - actually have the edge?
Rowing is a mysterious world to most of us, and there is a lot more water yet to flow under this particular bridge.
It was a relief to hear Waddell give media interviews yesterday. It was perhaps understandable that he kept a low profile until then, especially as he was venturing into both familiar and unknown territory. Waddell needed to know for sure that he was good enough to compete for what, until now, was Drysdale's assured Olympic position.
Waddell, who juggled the balls of rowing, yachting and rugby at various times, also went to ground when he was making a key decision about his future a few years ago. But he needed to speak yesterday, to declare his intentions, and did.
So, it is game on. And what a game. Whew, the contest of the summer perhaps and how nice to have this contribution to variety on the sports horizon.
This is a riveting duel, the likes of which New Zealand sport has not witnessed.
We're lucky enough to have a world champion in any Olympic-rated sport, let alone have two of them vying for the premier Olympic spot.
So, how under-prepared was Drysdale yesterday? Did an extra dose of return-to-rowing adrenaline get Waddell home? Will Drysdale, with more conditioning in recent years, have an edge over the long haul? Can Waddell, freshened by a break, reach greater heights? Who is the greater athlete, who has the greater mental toughness? What good or bad luck awaits either man along the way?
This is our very own Ali versus Frazier although you will wait a very long time before a New Zealand rower lets his tongue float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.
I must say that in an extensive interview with Drysdale in Mt Maunganui a few years ago, he was superb in opening up about his life and career.
But I also recall covering rowing many moons ago when it was so difficult to pierce the wall of comradeship that I gave up trying. Some sports may feign an all for one, one for all team spirit, but the rowers I found seemed to base their very existence on the credo and barely spoke at all, let alone out of turn.
It's not so much a case of whether rowing is able to make the most of this brilliant match-up, but more a case of whether it actually wants to or not. Wild-eyed impresarios and self-promoters they are not.
Throw in the Kiwi sports default position of overt humility, whether real or feigned, and this could be a lukewarm war.
It should still be a fascinating journey.
The loser can find another Olympic boat but that's not the big issue - both will be desperate for the premier position.
There are just heroes, and no villains, at this point. You can but only wish both men good speed and good luck. And may the best man win.
