Rowing: More drama infamous 'Lay Down' Sally

SYDNEY - As if the drama of watching rowing fall girl "Lay Down" Sally Robbins implode at the Athens Olympics wasn't enough -- Australians will soon have the chance of watch a re-enactment of her Olympic meltdown on dry land.

Just as New Zealand rugby fans have had to cringe through the play Alone It Stands, an Irish immortalisation of Munster's 12-0 defeat of the All Blacks in 1978, Australians will be able to relive one of the most embarrassing moments in their sporting history.

Robbins infamously quit rowing 500m from the finish of the women's eight final, scuppering Australia's chance of making the podium.

Now, as the 24-year-old Robbins makes her first steps towards qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a Sydney-based theatre company is practising a recreation of the controversial race.

Version1.0's production is timed to coincide with the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March.

Director David Williams said his interest in the Robbins affair was triggered when public figures -- including Olympic hero Cathy Freeman -- criticised the rower's collapse as "un-Australian".

The script is based on comments by crew members who vowed never to row with her again, and re-enacts a public slap on Robbins' shoulder by fellow rower Catriona Oliver-Sens.

Williams said the play was a sympathetic account of Robbins and the public hostility she endured.

He said the play explored the Australian sporting psyche and why people responded so fiercely.

"I'm realising how seriously most Australians took it, even though it seems like a minor, frivolous incident," Williams told The Australian newspaper.

"We've found the show is much less about Sally and more about this label of 'un-Australian' that was thrown at her and her teammates with such excessiveness.

"There's some really nasty commentary out there about her, and it's always slightly unpleasant but fascinating in a way."

He has had no contact with Robbins but planned to invite her to the play.

- NZPA