Rowing: Tall rower pays price for 4 hour-long bus reconnaissance

By PETER JESSUP

SYDNEY - Sydney's traffic problems have contributed to an injury scare among the New Zealand coxless four rowing crew just 10 days out from the opening of their Olympic campaign.

Team management and members played down the absence of Toni Dunlop from their training routine yesterday.

Dunlop was at the physiotherapist while the others tested the Olympic race course at Penrith.

Sweep Rob Hellstrom, No 2 Scott Brownlee and bowman Dave Schaper took turns pairing in a double scull for laps of the 2000m lanes, with coach Brian Hawthorne describing that as an opportunity to try things rather than a hindrance to their programme.

With 10 days until their opening heats, any injury, no matter how slight, must cause concern especially since their final is expected to be one of the closest at the regatta. The Kiwis are a definite gold chance and a good bet for a medal, but face stiff competition from Italy, Australia and Great Britain, those teams finishing within tenths of a second of each other in international competition over the past year.

The four and Hawthorne were four hours on a bus getting around town on Tuesday as they got familiar with the territory they have to cover from the village to the man-made lake venue at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

Dunlop is 1.9m (6ft 2in) tall and his back does not take kindly to a squashed-in bus posture.

"We've always worked in singles and doubles when someone is injured, so it's no worries," said Brownlee.

Hawthorne said Dunlop was just being careful.

He had felt the bus a bit, Hawthorne said, "but they're all still fit and healthy and feeling stroppy - if they had gone all quiet I'd be worried."

Meanwhile, Australian police confiscated bulletproof vests and pistol holsters from guards accompanying the Israeli team yesterday. The items were found in the athletes village.

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