Rowing: Hopes of a nation ride on the shoulders of two young women

By DAVID LEGGAT in Athens

To their mates and each other they're Georgie and K.

They have, of course, their own distinct personalities, but to the rest of New Zealand they have simply become The Twins: rowing sisters Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell.

Around 6.50pm today their oars will touch the water of Lake Schinias and an Olympic gold medal will be 2000m away.

Their dream will come down to about seven minutes and, barring a major upset, they will have received the ultimate reward for three years' domination of the double sculls.

Since winning the world championship title in 2002 they have spent their time on the water watching their rivals' backs. That is, they have become the combination whose wake the others have been chasing in vain.

A second world title followed last year, and two World Cup regattas in Europe on their pre-Games campaign have been won emphatically.

Provided the stars are aligned properly, and the sisters don't suffer ill luck with the weed which has clogged parts of the course and had rowers pulling out their hair, along with clumps of lake rubbish, they should have enhanced New Zealand's Olympic rowing record.

But as New Zealand expects, the sisters have insisted nothing is taken for granted. "In Olympic year people go nuts," said Georgina, the more gregarious of the two. "You have to expect the unexpected."

But this is the culmination of a dream hatched when the sisters narrowly missed competing at the Sydney Olympics. Tonight, all things being equal, that memory will be consigned to history.

The Evers-Swindells hold the country's biggest expectation for a medal. Even their coach, Dick Tonks, who has been with the 25-year-olds since 2000, reckons, barring unexpected hiccups, they won't be beaten.

The sisters shrug off the big talk about what might happen today.

"We don't think of expectations from anyone else and what other crews think of us," said Georgina, the older sister by a few minutes.

The country may simply refer to them as The Twins. But the quiet word from the camp is they prefer their own identities off the water. They'd rather someone had a crack and got their name wrong instead of tagging them with the twin label.

Their parents, Hornby and Fran, are home in Hawkes Bay but older sister Pip and husband Michael will be in the stands tonight.

"It is exciting but we are extremely nervous," Hornby Evers-Swindell said yesterday. "We have been going to [international] regattas for nine years with the girls, but it will be harder this time because normally in regattas we don't see the first 1500m, we only see the last 500m ... but on TV we have to watch the whole bloody thing."

Throughout the Games the twins have continued their ritual of phoning their parents twice a week.

"They have never in their lives felt confident," Mr Evers-Swindell said. "They never feel confident going into regattas in New Zealand let alone overseas. That is how they operate ... they know all sorts of things can upset the applecart.

"We cringe when we hear people say they are going to win by 10 seconds. They have been dominant but you just can't trust anybody. That has always been their motto."

- additional reporting by JULIE ASH