KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - Tomorrow's Olympic finals could be the last in a black singlet for two of New Zealand's powerhouse rowers, Rob Waddell and George Bridgewater.
Neither can confirm their future but it seems the duo - both standing 2m tall and half of two-man boats with strong medal chances tomorrow - may well bid farewell to New Zealand rowing beyond Beijing.
For Waddell, 33, it will depend on motivation levels after returning to the sport a year ago and spending the last six months training and competing in the unfamiliar double scull with Nathan Cohen.
An unknown factor next year is his commitments with the Team New Zealand (TNZ) yachting syndicate, with whom he is still contracted.
"Yachting has always been the priority and it just depends on what's happening next with the America's Cup," he said.
"I feel privileged to be at my second Olympics and I'm thinking no further than that."
The hugely-talented Bridgewater, 25, will definitely miss next year, having been accepted by England's Oxford University to study for his MBA.
He will stay in shape, hoping to be part of the famous Oxford-Cambridge boat race on the Thames River in March.
However, Saturday's final shapes as probably the last with long-time pair crewmate Nathan Twaddle.
Bridgewater has yet to decide when or if he will return to rowing in New Zealand.
"I might come back, I haven't made up my mind," he told NZPA.
"My experience here (Olympics) is going to have a bearing on it all, I'll see what I feel like.
"It's probably another year before I make my decision."
How many of the other 16 New Zealand rowers will stick with the sport is open to speculation.
Just three of the 16 New Zealand rowers here are in their 30s - Waddell, Twaddle and 36-year-old women's pair stroke Nicky Coles - making them one of the younger teams in Beijing.
Elite rowers often continue into their 40s so Rowing New Zealand will be keen that the likes of star 29-year-olds Mahe Drysdale and sculling sisters Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell stay on to maintain the sport's profile.
The Evers-Swindell sisters are always tight-lipped about their plans while despondent fours bowman Carl Meyer didn't want to contemplate whether to continue his yeoman service with the four after they crashed in the semifinals on Wednesday.
If Bridgewater and Twaddle are getting emotional about their probable last race together it isn't showing. They said they had enough motivation for Saturday without considering the looming fork in their career paths.
The partnership - which netted a world title in 2005 - was born soon before they rowed to fourth place in the final of the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Athens seemed a world away to both subdued rowers after their taxing semifinal outing on Wednesday.
"I don't remember it being this hard last time," Bridgewater said.
"A lot of crews came out of the woodwork. A lot of guys who wouldn't normally be there had phenomenal speed.
"It hasn't been a great run this week but it all comes down to one race. We're definitely going in not as the favourites and it's fine by us."
- NZPA
