Silver medalist Emma Twigg. Photo / Photosport
By Kris Shannon in Paris
Eight years after retiring from rowing, Emma Twigg has raced to a second Olympic medal.
The 37-year-old claimed silver in this morning’s single sculls final at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, adding to the stunning gold she secured in Tokyo following years of heartbreak.
Twigg announced her intention to quit the sport after a second straight fourth-placed finish at Rio 2016, describing the result as “almost my worst nightmare”.
Now, she will bow out of elite rowing on the back of a late-in-life Olympic dream.
Ascendant Dutch sculler Karolien Florijn, 11 years Twigg’s junior, was too strong in this morning’s final, speeding to a lead of almost 1.5s inside the opening 500m.
The gap between the front two boats remained near that margin at the halfway point, before Twigg began her charge. But despite closing to within a second with 500m to race, Florijn was able to edge further ahead and take her country’s first gold in the event with a time of 7m 17.28s.
Twigg finished safely in silver, 1.84s back, having come into the final with the fastest semifinal time by more than two seconds.
“I couldn’t have asked for more — I really put it all out there,” Twigg said. “I looked across with 500 to go and was level with Karolien. I thought for a moment there that I was just going to keep walking, but the legs got me to about the 1800m mark. But really proud of that.”
Another podium place in her fifth Games more than justified Twigg’s decision to continue competing following her breakthrough triumph.
It also took the rowing team’s medal tally to four on the last day of the regatta — with fifth-place single sculler Tom Mackintosh unable to a apply final flourish — and confirmed another outstanding contribution in this country’s most successful Olympic sport.
New Zealand’s rowers have now won 15 gold and 33 total medals since Darcy Hadfield collected single-sculls bronze at the 1920 Antwerp Games.
Twigg adding at all to that number seemed unlikely following her devastation in 2016, what she called a second “failure”. Taking time away from the sport to work for the IOC, it was in her official capacity at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang that she began contemplating a comeback.
Twigg returned to Lake Karapiro and found her passion renewed, quickly re-establishing herself as the premier sculler in the country.
Winning events both local and abroad, she seemed primed for another Olympic crack when the pandemic hit, entering no international competition in 2020.
That was just about the last setback she suffered, though, eventually heading to Tokyo while racing better than ever, soon converting that form into the most treasured of gold medals.
Twigg acknowledged she came to Paris with a new freedom, the “monkey off her back” and her Olympic legacy secure. She was also buoyed here by the presence of wife Charlotte and 2-year-old son Tommy, saying family in the stands made this the perfect swansong in a standout career.
Although, having become stronger throughout a busy regatta, she will at the very least remain a feared presence on any future startline.
“Every race I felt like I was getting better and better, and today was a better race as well,” Twigg said. “Karolien is an amazing sculler; she’s really set the benchmark over the last three years. I feel proud as a 37-year-old that I’m keeping up with a 26-year-old.”
If this is indeed the end of Twigg at the highest level, it will be an immeasurably fonder farewell than her first.
Kris Shannon has been a sport journalist since 2011 and covers a variety of codes for the Herald.