After snapping Great Britain’s 25-year Olympic hold on the men’s coxless four gold medallist Alex Hill believes it can be the start of a new golden era of Australian dominance in the event.
Winning silver in Rio, Hill was part of the Tokyo men’s crew who claimed Australia’s first gold medal since the Oarsome Foursome‘s triumph at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
Australia also won the men’s four in Barcelona, which led to the famous moniker, and Hill sees no reason why the boat can’t top the podium in Paris in 2024.
“I definitely think so,” Hill said told AAP when asked if it could start a golden stretch.
“We’ve got some amazing rowers coming up so let’s hope it’s the start of a new era.”
Of the Olympic champions, Hill is 28, Spencer Turrin, 29, Jack Hargreaves, 27 and Nick Purnell, 26 and with the likes of Norwegian Olaf Tufte rowing at his seventh Olympics, aged 45, they can all still be firing in three years time.
There are also some young guns lining up in men’s eight, who race in the final on Friday, including 20-year-old Angus Dawson, Jack O’Brien, 23 and Nick Lavery, who is 22.
Widely regarded as the world’s best rower, Hill plans to take a year off before deciding on his future but admits the pull of Paris and another gold medal is strong.
“It’s a pretty good feeling so I might potentially try to go to Paris but I need a bit of time to think about that one,” the South Australian said.
“No-one in the crew has made a call just yet – we’re just trying to soak this one up.”
The Rio boat qualified fastest for the final but were forced to settle for silver behind the Brits, just as they did in 2012 and 2008.
Hill said he used that Rio experience as a spur for Tokyo.
“I definitely channelled that for this time around,” he said.
“We knew we just had to get that that one place better so it wasn’t like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
“We set ourselves a goal in 2017 when we had our new group come through and that goal was to win gold in Tokyo so to go the one better was unreal.”
With the men’s eight qualifying for the Games this time, Australia have one of the largest representations of all countries – with 38 rowers and nine boats.
That includes 28 debutants, which makes the stunning haul of two golds and two bronzes with two finals remaining all the more special.
Hill said the large squad added to their swagger in the boat park.
“We really thrive off each other and get around each other so to have as big and strong a team that we have at the moment is pretty surreal.”
AAP
For more sport:
- Stubblety-Cook wins 200m breaststroke gold
- Boomers pass Italy test in Tokyo
- Australian women’s four win rowing gold
- Aussie men’s four claim second rowing gold
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