KEY POINTS:
On a crisp Sydney winter morning, Rob Waddell dipped his rowing oars in the water and was hit by a wave of emotion.
The International Regatta Centre at Penrith was deserted, bar Waddell and his double sculls partner Nathan Cohen on day one of their training regime.
Eight
years earlier the same stretch of water was heaving with a bunch of delirious Kiwis as Waddell became a national hero, powering to victory in the single sculls final for New Zealand's only gold of the 2000 Olympics.
He hadn't been back since, so it was somehow appropriate he should start his intensive Beijing buildup there. The kind of preparation that sports psychologists dream about.
"It's been a little bit nostalgic, particularly the first time back on the lake," Waddell told NZPA.
"Our first session was in singles and there's a couple of bridges you have to row under to get into and out of the course, and the last time I was under one of them I was going out for the final and the other one I had a gold medal around my neck.
"It was quite a strange feeling, but it's just great being back here. It's a superb training venue and the weather's been kind to us."
Waddell and Cohen took up an invitation from the world champion men's four to join them in a month-long training block in Sydney under national coach Chris Nilsson, something of a haven away from the wild winter on Lake Karapiro.
It was good for body and mind for Waddell, who rented a house in the nearby Blue Mountains for he and wife Sonia and children Sophie, five, Hayden, three, and Madeline, nine months. Family time is a rarity for an international rower/yachtsman.
The eight-year journey between Sydney and Beijing had no certain ending as Waddell sought to quench his competitive thirst.
He had a crack at rugby, then in a yacht as an Americas Cup grinder with Team New Zealand. That was plan B in 2003 when he announced he wouldn't defend his rowing title in Athens. He didn't reveal the actual reason, an atrial fibrillation which saw his heart rate soar to 200 beats per minute.
But as he toiled away with Team New Zealand, the heart condition was kept under control and Waddell allowed himself to dream a second rowing medal was possible.
At 33, Waddell feared he might never be in this kind of shape again.
"I've been given this chance to do it again and it's a privilege. It's so much fun to be racing again, going to another Games, winning, they're all the things I loved about the sport and I missed a lot."
He shed some of his yachting bulk and grabbed the oars again. He was forced to slug it out with Mahe Drysdale for the Beijing single sculls berth, and in the third race the dreaded fibrillation struck again as Drysdale won through.
Waddell still wanted to press on to Beijing in the double, meaning he reluctantly takes medication in the form of blood thinner, warfarin. It's the thing he dislikes most about rowing preparation and there are side effects; an itchy rash, nausea, flu-like symptoms, and if he gets cut it could bleed more heavily than normal.
But as he rowed one of his final sessions with Cohen at Penrith, his confidence remained high. The duel with Drysdale in March was ideal, in hindsight.
"The ultimate test is what you're doing on the water and I was very pleased with my singles speed during the summer. I've got a lot of confidence from that, and I couldn't have had a better Olympics preparation than I had in the summer.
"It was first class, got me so well prepared with that intensity and that volume, it's what you need in Olympic year, that sort of commitment. I feel physically in as good a shape as I ever have been."
He and Cambridge-based Southlander Cohen, an accomplished single sculler, gelled quickly. Waddell laughs they are eerily similar, apart from the height difference which sees him dwarf Cohen in the boat.
"We scull the same and we have the same strengths and weaknesses, mentally we approach things the same.
"It's been good getting to know the guy you're rowing with, and I just get more and more confidence in him all the time and hopefully the same goes for him."
World Cup gold medals in Poland and Switzerland in June showed they were right on track although Waddell treated the results with caution.
Some of the top crews hold themselves back and only reveal their full hand at the Games. Waddell felt winning gold in the double sculls is a tougher ask than the singles.
"In the single you tend to get one or two at the top of the food chain, and the bigger the boat the more you get crews in a line.
"In our race we feel there's eight crews going for six spots in the final. Those eight crews all have pretty good speed. In the single I felt I could have a bad day and still make the final."
The rowing team departed this week for Beijing and Waddell says medal hopes are high.
Since he returned to the sport he's noticed the increased funding has meant more professionalism and turned them into a "slick outfit".
"There's definitely some high medal hopes for rowing. The sport's in a really good spot. I'm not just saying that based on results last year, I'm saying it based on current form and how I know the other guys are going.
"I think there's some top chances there. We hope we can make New Zealand proud."
- NZPA
