KEY POINTS:
The secret's out.
Dick Tonks, head coach of New Zealand's rowing elite, is no effusive gabbler when it comes to dishing out the compliments.
But now there's a clue to when he's pleased with what he's seeing.
"He starts whistling, and you know he's happy," Nicky Coles laughed.
On the eve of the world championships in Munich, Tonks has been overseeing coxless pair Coles and Juliette Haigh, among other crews.
A mountain of work has been put in since the World Cup regatta at Lucerne last month. Coles says she and Haigh have felt the pressure go on but are delighted with where they're at on the eve of heats on the Oberschleiss-heim course.
"We couldn't have asked for a better buildup," Coles said yesterday. "We've been able to do every session Richard's asked of us and as time's gone on you could see he's pushed us harder and harder to see where we'd break, and we haven't. I get the impression he's pretty happy."
Not that he's said as much, but he has been whistling.
Coles, 35, and the stroke, and Haigh, 10 years younger, are one of 11 New Zealand crews in action and all are trying to qualify their boats for next year's Beijing Olympics, with the exception of lightweight single sculler Duncan Grant, whose event is not on the Games programme.
The coxless pair were second in the World Cup regatta in Amsterdam behind China before winning at the higher-calibre Lucerne event.
It's been a tough road for the Auckland pair since they qualified at the latest hour for the Athens Olympics. There, Coles took an unexpected dunking during their heat on the Schinias course. It could have been curtains for the combination but she clambered back on board and they got to the finish line, and did enough in the repechage to make the final.
From there, it's been onwards and upwards. They won the world title at Gifu, Japan, in 2005, took silver at Eton last year and are among the contenders again next week.
That journey has hardened the pair to the point they believe they're up to the sternest challenge.
"Athens is like a different lifetime. So much has happened. I can't believe we've been together that long; it's like being tied in a three-legged race together.
"Back then we had so many hurdles to get over and that toughness has set us up. We now line up against crews, especially younger crews, and think, 'You have no idea what we've been through' - and we've been through some crap."
But while qualifying is the main objective, any New Zealand crews who don't perform strongly will find themselves having to go through a trial process to win the Olympic spots.
Some classes have 11 spots on offer. Any New Zealand crew finishing, say, eighth in those events can expect an inquisition.
Much interest will focus on the performances of the Chinese squad in Munich. They were formidable in Amsterdam. As Coles put it, "They came out from the start like cut cats, and it was all we could do to reel them in."
But New Zealand's form suggests they should be comfortable qualifiers in six events - the men's single scull, double scull, coxless pair and coxless four, and women's double scull and coxless pair.
Single sculler Emma Twigg and lightweight men's double Graham Oberlin-Brown and Peter Taylor have decent chances, but the men's and women's eight, with only seven and five places on offer, will be up against it.
World champions? Mahe Drysdale is chasing a third successive gold and should be right amongst it next Saturday night.
Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater were world No 1 in 2005, beaten in a thriller by Aussies Drew Ginn and Duncan Free last year and are poised for another ding-dong battle with them again next week.
Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell have been top of the world three times and are defending Olympic champions. They will again be formidable.
Not forgetting a women's coxless pair who've had to drag themselves out of the water to prove they have the right stuff.
Just the facts
* What: The world championships, doubling as the Olympic qualifying regatta for next year's Games in Beijing.
* Where: The Oberschleissheim course outside Munich, scene of New Zealand's gold medal triumph in the eights at the 1971 Olympics. A spiritual home for New Zealand rowing.
* When: The heats start tomorrow night, with finals to be raced next Saturday and Sunday. Sky TV will show the latter days live - Thursday from 7.45pm, Sky Sport 2; Friday from 9.30pm, SS1, and both finals days.
* Who: New Zealand are in 11 events, 10 of which are on the Olympic programme, spearheaded by double defending world champion Mahe Drysdale and defending Olympic champions and three-times world champs Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell.
