With only two Olympic spots up for grabs, South Africa’s men’s four crew David Hunt, Jonty Smith, Vince Breet and Jake Green shrugged off the pressure to qualify the country’s fifth boat for the Rio Games.
The crew has gone through hell and back to book their places at yesterday’s Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
The quartet cruised into the final winning their heat before leaving the best for last to outclass favourite French crew in the final.
They dominated the race from start to finish with a time of 5:55.220 with the French boat following behind them in 5:57.100.
At last year’s World Rowing Championships in France the men’s four missed out on qualification while four other boats – men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls, and the men’s and women’s heavyweight pair – earned their places for the Games.
The crew was since reshuffled with Lawrence Brittain being promoted to the men’s pair boat while Sizwe Ndlovu lost his seat.
The men’s four crew finished in sixth place at the first World Rowing Cup in Varese, Italy last month where they were slightly erratic during their races.
South Africa only managed to qualify the men’s lightweight coxless four and the women’s pair boat of Lee-Ann Persse and Naydene Smith at the previous Olympics.
The heavyweight class has shown remarkable growth from failing to qualify a single boat at the previous global showpiece, to having two boats represented at the Games.
This says a lot for national rowing coach Roger Barrow and his dedicated support team, and the system they have built around a group of tenacious rowers.
Breet won the world men’s pair bronze medal with Shaun Keeling in 2014 while Hunt featured at last year’s world championships to qualify the boat for the Olympics.
Before last night’s achievement Barrow said although it would be a fantastic achievement to qualify a fifth boat, the greater reward would be for these rowers to make it to the Games.
“I would be more happy if the four of them just get their tickets for the Games because they’ve put in all of the work,” Barrow said.
“Having five boats is a bonus and it is a good feeling but to me it is more about the athletes.” - Independent Media