KEY POINTS:
Double gold medallists Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell announced their retirement from rowing today, saying the timing felt right.
The news comes two months after the Hawke's Bay twins, who celebrate their 30th birthday tomorrow, successfully defended their double sculls title at the Beijing Olympics.
"We certainly weren't thinking
about it before Beijing," Georgina Evers-Swindell said.
"It's only been in the last few weeks that we've decided it feels like a good time to have a change. It just feels right."
She said the decision hadn't been a difficult one and the pair felt lucky to be able to depart as Olympic champions.
"We've had a pretty cool career and to finish on an Olympic medal and to finish on that race was pretty awesome."
The Evers-Swindell won their first Olympic crown in Athens in 2004.
They also claimed three world titles - in Seville in 2002, Milan in 2003 and Gifu in 2005.
In the regatta in Japan, they were part of a spectacular 45 minutes when New Zealand's rowers grabbed four gold medals.
But their dramatic photo-finish triumph at the Shunyi course in Beijing would probably rate as their most remarkable victory, given they were regarded as outsiders to finish on top of the podium.
They had had below-par seasons in 2006 and 2007, although they still ended with a world bronze and a world silver medal.
But alarm bells began ringing in June when they failed to reach the A final of a World Cup regatta at Poznan, coming last in both their heat and their repechage less than seven weeks out from the Olympics.
"Poland was a bit of a shocker and we had a lot of work to do, probably more mental than physical," Georgina said.
"That month we were back at home before going up to China was really tough. But we had lots of wonderful support from the people at Rowing New Zealand and we managed to change things around."
She said the two Olympic golds and the Gifu world championships would rate as the obvious highlights from an international career stretching back almost a decade.
There will be many things the pair would miss about rowing, but not the training.
"It's been an amazing lifestyle and it's been like a dream job," Georgina said.
"We had some great opportunities and met some very cool people and there will be aspects we will definitely miss, but perhaps not the training and the ergometer tests."
She said neither she nor Caroline had looked too far ahead in terms of their futures off the water.
They were busy at the moment doing work for their sponsors and "just enjoying the gold medal".
"I guess we're going to have to get a proper job soon, but we haven't really thought about that yet."
She said she remained passionate about rowing and hoped to stay in the sport, but wasn't sure in what capacity.
She was confident she was retiring while New Zealand rowing was in a robust state.
"It's not only the elite crews who are performing well, we've good performances coming out of our under-23 and junior ranks as well," she said.
"It's looking really positive, considering we've got the world champs here in a couple of years."
Coach Richard Tonks, who has guided the Evers-Swindells for the past eight years, described them as models for up-and-coming competitors.
"The twins are an example of guts and determination that every young athlete can look up to," he said.
"They have delivered when it has mattered most and no coach could ever ask for more."
- NZPA