Disappointments a spur to success, says Rowing NZ

Disappointments are part and parcel of the process of becoming successful athletes, a leading sports official said.

Rowing New Zealand chief executive Craig Ross said today the country's results at the Commonwealth Games had caused much discussion after the overall medal count was less than predicted.

"Rowing is not a Commonwealth sport but recent international success has highlighted the Rowing New Zealand programme," Ross said.

"I don't believe we should be dismissing the performances of New Zealand's Games team.

"The athletes are youngsters whose time is still to come," said Ross.

Rowing's achievement, winning four titles at the world championships last year in Japan, had not been an overnight success story.

The athletes had been training and competing at the international level for several years before it paid off.

Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell knew failure at the international level when they failed to qualify for the Sydney Olympics.

"This bitter disappointment hardened their resolve and their success over the last five years is testimony (to that)," Ross said.

"It shouldn't be seen that Rowing New Zealand has the recipe to success.

"The New Zealand rowing team know about being in the final, but not winning a medal.

"At Athens, four of our five crews made the final with only one getting a medal.

"We stepped up a year later and a year's more experience resulted in four world championship gold medals."

"We are constantly monitoring improvement in all areas of our high performance programme and we are well aware of the expectations that will surround the New Zealand rowing team's performance later this year at the world championships in Eton, Britain.

Ross said the focus was now on the men's four who have just missed out on medals over the last two years.

- NZPA