Olympics: Coxless four relaxed and confident of top effort

By PETER JESSUP

SYDNEY - The Kiwi coxless four rowing team face some of the stiffest competition at the Olympics, but have ability, form and confidence on their side.

There is a quiet realism about the four, who have to beat 1999 world champions Australia, 2000 World Cup winners Italy, and the British crew who include the amazing Steven Redgrave as he goes for his fifth consecutive gold.

But they have no doubt they can do it.

Stroke Rob Hellstrom, Scott Brownlee, Toni Dunlop and Dave Schaper have been together for two years and have a solid background of training and competition behind them, including experience through a 12-month programme that worked them up to the world championships in St Catharines, Canada, where they were fourth in a close finish.

They are still rated fourth in the world, behind Britain, Australia and Italy.

But at the Australian national championships in March, they rowed to second, 0.24s behind the Australian team they will meet in Sydney.

And at the last World Cup meeting, at Lucerne in July, Italy, Australia and New Zealand beat the British four.

Italy was first, New Zealand second and Australia third. It was the first time Redgrave's outfit had been beaten since 1997.

Italy are the wildcard after breaking out to a 2s lead at Lucerne.

The Kiwis expect the finish at the Penrith Lakes Olympic regatta will be much closer.

Scott Brownlee is the oldest at 31, and has two previous Olympics behind him, with a sixth place in Barcelona and Atlanta.

He is relaxed, but acknowledges that the race for gold "has some classic elements."

"We're all wondering whether the Italians can be as good again. It's anyone's race and it'll be a beauty," he said.

But there was not much that can be thrown at the Kiwis that would faze them now, he said.

The four know every race at Penrith will be important, especially if wind predictions are correct.

Heat times will possibly be decided by lane positioning in the cross-cutting south-westerly.

Brownlee said the New Zealanders wanted to win every time they went out. Winning in heats can be a psychological boost.

"There's not too much foxing at the Olympics. Everyone pretty much knows what everyone else is doing and how fast they are.

"This is going to come down to what happens on the day."

Among the things Brownlee and the others know about each other is how they will collectively respond when the pressure goes on in the last 200m, when lungs are pressured to breakdown point, arms and legs are like spaghetti and the brain is screaming "stop."

The Kiwis will probably have a slower stroke rate than some of their competitors, hitting around 50 a minute at the start, settling back, and raising to approach 50 again at the end. But they will be applying more force.

They have two boats in Sydney, the 18-month-old one which they took to Europe for World Cup and Olympic qualifying meetings this year, and a new one just completed by designer Bob Rout at his KIR (Kiwi International Rowing) factory in Cambridge.

In the last 200m of their final on Saturday, September 23, when the pressure really goes on, they will have Hawthorne's settling techniques ingrained and one thing that is certain is that they will not beat themselves and choke.

They have respect for Redgrave and his champion crew, with Brownlee dismissing talk that the Briton is too old at 38 to achieve his goal of five golds.

"People said he was too old at 30, then they said he was too old at 34. With the professional approach these days you can go on longer," Brownlee said.

They will be looking across the course for Redgrave, the Aussies and the Italians, but without worry.

Brownlee said: "You watch them and get a good idea of how you're going. You can see when you do things, whether it's working or not, how the boat responds compared to the opposition and it can settle you down. But we won't be watching and worrying."

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