Rowing: Grateful rowers seize second chance

By DAVID LEGGAT

They were the last New Zealand crew to qualify, but Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh are confident they will do more than merely make up the numbers at the Olympic rowing regatta.

The coxless pair, who have been together only since last October, secured their trip to Greece in the final qualifying regatta at Lucerne in June.

Needing to finish in the top two of a straight final comprising five crews, Coles and Haigh came in second behind Bulgarians Milka Tancheva and Anna Chuk in 7m 15.06s, 10s ahead of Australia.

At the 1500m mark, it was a tight squeeze. They were third with the Ukrainian pair second. But the Ukrainians faded in the final 500m, and Coles and Haigh pressed on to fully justify the national selectors' faith in giving them a second chance after overlooking them at national trials in March.

Since joining the rest of the New Zealand squad at Hazewinkel, Belgium, Coles is sure they have made significant progress. Buoyed by a strong showing at the Amsterdam regatta last month, when they recorded two wins in smart times, they are determined to prove they deserve to be going to the Games.

"I feel we are of the right quality," Coles, 32, said. "We have really high standards of ourselves."

Amsterdam, with its strong tailwinds, gave the pair a pointer to the likely conditions in Athens, where the one absolute certainty is that wind will play a part in proceedings. Coles and Haigh have a lighter bodyweight than several of their rivals. If tailwinds come into play, the lighter the rowers, the better.

Haigh, who sits in the bow seat, celebrated her 22nd birthday on Wednesday, but there was an element of sadness with their coach, Marion Horwell, having to return to New Zealand this week after the death of her father.

Horwell may return to Athens before the regatta starts.

Coles was disappointed to miss out on the Sydney Games four years ago, as a member of an unsuccessful eight, so as the pair were being put through a rigorous training regime in Belgium, she made a vow.

"No matter how hard it got in the buildup, I'd never complain."

It did get gruelling but there is a large carrot dangling in front of the pair in the form of the dream of Olympic glory. They are far from strong contenders, in the vein of double scullers Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell. But Coles reckons they are far from prospective tail-end Charlies either.

She pointed out they have beaten the German crew, who in turn have beaten the British pair Catherine Bishop and Kath Grainger, who happen to be the world champions, "so it's not a given for anybody". Indeed, the attitude of some of their rivals has only served to harden their resolve.

"There are some crews in our event who think they're going to get a medal. They think it'll be easy. We're looking forward to giving some people a fright."

Coles admitted the big, powerful Romanian and Belarussian combinations deserved respect, but then there's that tailwind to consider.

"That's an equaliser. Strength is not such a factor.

"You're dealing with technique and speed and we've got no reason not to be confident," Coles added.

The pair step into the water for their heat on August 14.