Men's four in Rio shapes as one of rowing history's best

Rowing is generally a sport overlooked on the Australian sporting landscape.

In the past it has been an ‘elitist’ sport, participated in mainly by rich private schools and prominent universities.

Recently there has been a movement away from this, with more focus on the fact that it is one of the most technically skilled, difficult and exhausting team- (or crew-) oriented sports in the world.

At a time when Australia is struggling on the international sporting scene, the Australian public needs to know that we are performing well on the rowing scene.

In fact, we are main contenders in arguably the sport’s most famed and prestigious distinction – the men’s coxless four.

This is the same distinction that created fame for the likes of James Tomkins, Drew Ginn and the ‘Oarsome Foursome’ on those Goulburn Valley Fruit ads.

Over 20 years later, there is a new look competition between up to five nations in the men’s four division.

The London Olympics and many years before that were usually a two horse race between Australia and Great Britain, but other nations are starting to treat the coxless four as the marquee boat, instead of the eight.

The United States, Netherlands and Italy, along with Australia and Great Britain, will be all fancying their chances still a few years out from Rio (along with Germany lurking in the shadows).

At the recent World Championships held in South Korea, the Netherlands stunned Australia, Great Britain and the USA, the trio that were all extremely close in the heats, to claim gold in trying conditions in Chungju.

This came after the Samsung World Rowing Cup had completed its three stages of 2013, with Australia claiming victory in Sydney and Eton Dorney before the USA stormed home in Lucerne.

Italy only competed at the Lucerne leg of the World Cup and were able to finish third before finishing fourth in South Korea, less than three seconds behind winners the Netherlands in what was one of the best races in recent history.

The Netherlands were able to stun all before them in this race, after not competing at Sydney or Eton Dorney and finishing a respectable fourth in Lucerne.

But their remarkable rise to prominence will cause alarm for Australian stalwarts Josh Dunkley-Smith and Will Lockwood.

They would have just got around the idea of powerhouse USA focusing on the men’s four rather than their eight, which is unlike what the duo experienced when the US finished third behind Great Britain and Australia at London in 2012.

At a time when Australia needs sporting teams to be proud of, look no further than your men’s four, who are not only competing remarkably well on the world stage but are engrossed in what is one of the tightest and closest fields of recent history.

It would also be remiss of me to not mention Kim Crow in an article about rowing.

Crow became the first Australian woman to claim gold at the World Championships in the women’s single scull. Congratulations to Kim, whose write up on the second back page of the Herald Sun suggests rowing may be starting to catch the public’s attention.