KEY POINTS:
At some point in the future, New Zealand will send its elite rowing squad to Europe minus Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell.
And it will look odd. After all, the 28-year-old twins from Hawkes Bay have been central components to a remarkable golden era for the sport.
Not only that, when assessments are done about how crews might perform, they have been the banker for Rowing New Zealand, providing a certainty that they will do the business.
Olympic double scull champions in 2004, three-times world champions, one-time silver medallists and, last year at Eton, bronze medal winners; if the sisters do nothing else they will always be among the country's elite athletic achievers.
But doing nothing else is as removed from their thinking as taking up table tennis. By their lofty standards, the Eton result was a disappointment. Bronze is not to be sneezed at; it just seemed a letdown.
Then there was the business of coach Richard Tonks having them swap seats a few weeks before Eton. But now Caroline has moved back to the stroke seat, Georgina reverting to the bow.
And Caroline reckons the edge is back, lessons have been absorbed and they can't wait to make amends. There's no doubt the Eton result hurt but Caroline insists positives can be taken out of the experience. She is sure success hadn't dulled their motivation before Eton and said Tonks had them in the best possible state of fitness and readiness.
"I don't think we needed any more motivation but it helped us to see that, perhaps, some of the things Georgie and I were doing weren't the best, that we weren't preparing ourselves the best we could," she said.
"The result at Eton showed us that and it's been really good because you don't want to find it out in Olympic year. I don't think we've ever lacked motivation or commitment, but perhaps it showed us we could do it a better way than we did last year."
She puts the change of seat down to Tonks wanting to challenge them, to "move us out of our comfort zones. And I don't think it affected the result or the way we performed, and he might change us again tomorrow, you never know. You just go with it because we have total faith in his decisions and judgment."
They have enjoyed summer training with the other elite rowers at Lake Karapiro, relishing the chance to row with the other women in the eight, pairs and fours and doing work in the singles.
Tonks kept them out of the double scull until a week before the national champs at Lake Ruataniwha, Twizel, last month. That's helped retain mental freshness and given them new physical challenges.
"And it gives us confidence in our own ability. I always have it when I row with Georgie in the double, but to go out and prove yourself in the single or as an individual in other crew boats is healthy," Caroline said.
She likes what she sees among the women's squad for Europe. There are 13 women in the elite group - an eight, the silver medal-winning coxless pair from last year's worlds, Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles, and the Evers-Swindells - and nine of the 13 named for July's world under-23 champs in Scotland are women.
Caroline maintains it's a strong vindication of Rowing NZ's high-performance programme.
"There has been a general progression from juniors to under-23 to elite. Everything goes in cycles.
"In 1998-99, we were in an eight and it looked pretty strong but it kind of went down a bit. Although elite [women's] teams have been small over the years, the under-23 and junior levels were always strong and now it's beginning to pay off."
Their desire to repeat Athens gold in Beijing next year is firmly intact. But first things first, and that means strong performances at World Cup regattas in Amsterdam and Lucerne, then re-stamping their mark at the worlds in Munich in August.
Munich doubles as this year's Olympic qualifying regatta and it's more about staring down their rivals in a rapidly improving class.
"Last year, we struggled to get a medal. That shows how tough it's going to be this year.
"That's why you do all the training and Georgie and I are so amped about racing. It's going to be cool."
Cool and red hot, more like.
