The Australian women’s pair will be rowing for redemption when they chase more gold at the Paris Olympic regatta. Senior correspondent Mike Osborne explains why.
Annabelle McIntyre and Jessica Morrison already have one Olympic gold medal but an ill wind that blew through Tokyo has set them on a different course to Paris.
Two hours after rowing 2km to help secure an historic victory for the Australian women’s four at the Tokyo Games, McIntyre and Morrison were forced back on the water for the women’s pair due to scheduling changes caused by heavy winds.
It was mission impossible. They didn’t have time mentally or physically to recover and back-up.
“Jess and I were both in the four and after the elation of winning the final we had to cool down and then prepare to race in the pair semi-final,” McIntyre said.
“We got pipped on the line by the Greeks in an outside lane. It was devastating not to make the pair final in Tokyo.
“When we got off the water and were sitting in the boat shed moping, Jess just turned to me and said: ‘Well I guess I’ll see you in Paris’. And that was the start of it.”
Paris now is all about redemption. And McIntyre and Morrison, who began rowing together in 2019, will focus solely on the pair at these Olympics.
“There is too much of a risk to double up again,” McIntyre said. “We learned that lesson last time. As fun as it was, it was very hard and very stressful.
“In 2020 we were originally selected in the pair only for Tokyo, but then came the covid shutdown and everyone went home to train on their own.
“By 2021 when we came back from covid to the selection trials things had changed. We debated for a couple of weeks about whether it was plausible to do the four and the pair.
“We studied the program and the timing. There was a lot of belief and trust by the four of us in the process and the training and that it was going to work out. We believed we could do it and went ahead with it.”
The four athletes who rowed to gold in Tokyo were McIntyre, Morrison, Rosemary Popa and Lucy Stephan. All received OAMs for their victory which was one for the history books as the event had just been re-introduced to the Olympic program for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games.
That single gold medal now serves as a reminder of unfinished business for M&M.
“It is a good reminder of the fact that we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve in Tokyo, which was the two gold medals,” McIntyre said.
“Always being hungry for more and never wanting to settle when we achieve something new has been a big driver of our performances.”
Rowing Australia Chief Executive Sarah Cook, a world championship silver medallist, says the pair, coached by John Keogh, form a crucial part of “one of the strongest teams that Australia has put together” for any Games.
“Our women’s team is very impressive, with three returning Olympic Champions in Annabelle McIntyre, Lucy Stephen, and Jessica Morrison,” Cook said.
“Annabelle and Jess were undefeated in all but one race last season, which was the final of the women’s pair at the World Championships in Belgrade where they won the Silver medal (while) Lucy has moved to the eight.”
M&M have spent five years building a strong working relationship. Morrison makes the speed and technical calls while McIntyre is the stroke.
“I set the pace and rhythm and try to keep the boat straight by steering with my feet,” said McIntyre who switched from swimming to rowing aged 16 in her final high school year.
“I’d quit swimming and I needed a sport and other members of my family and their friends were having so much fun down at the Fremantle Rowing Club that I thought I would give it a go.
“I told the head coach ‘I’m not looking to be competitive, I’m just here to get healthy and enjoy it’. Lo and behold a couple of weeks later I was in a full program. I couldn’t help myself.
“My coach was keen because I fit the mould for what they want in rowers – I was tall and I had good aerobics from all my years of swimming. And I was competitive.”
McIntyre hooked up with Morrison a couple of years after moving to the women’s national rowing program at Penrith in Sydney and M&M was born.
“Jess’s last row in 2018 was with me, then she took a break,” McIntyre said. “She came back in 2019 and we had a few paddles together.
“We had a good win in a 1km trial event. We pumped everyone and made the boat move really well together. The coaches thought there might be something there if they gave us some more time together.”
McIntyre made time by putting her engineering degree on hold to focus on Tokyo and Paris and subsequently enrolled in a bachelor of science and engineering degree at the University of Technology in Sydney.
She’s so focused on redemption that she hasn’t considered medals after Paris. The 2028 LA Olympics remain a possibility but she admits she might not still be on the water in eight years time come Brisbane 2032.
“I haven’t thought about my rowing future. Maybe I could go around again in LA but I’ll probably be too old come Brisbane,” she said. “At this stage all I know is that after Paris I’m heading straight back to university after a five-year hiatus.”
M&M are ranked No.2 in the world heading into Paris after finishing second to the Dutch world champions Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester in their first major final at the Lucerne World Cup II (May 24-26) in Switzerland.
“We were really solid out there but not quite as fast as we wanted,” McIntyre said. “We are identifying the things that worked for us. We’ve done the base work and now just need to fit those final pieces of racing together.”
That includes working with a biomechanical expert to optimise movement.
“It might only be small changes but they might give us the split seconds we need,” she said. “Everything matters. We’ve done a lot of visualisation, practising how we want to race, and what each part of the race looks like.
“Basically we just need to let the boat speed go and race. We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us but I’m excited to see where we can get by the time we reach Paris.”
Apart from the Dutch rivals, McIntyre says they are wary of the Romanians and the Irish pair who finished third in Lucerne, as well as the expected wet and windy conditions that greeted competitors at the world junior championships held on the Paris course last year.
“You go into these regattas hoping to win by boat lengths but everyone is strong and wants to win,” she said. “In an Olympic year anyone can pop up. It’s a fast boat class and gets faster every year. It’s about being mentally strong and prepared for the race.”
And hell bent on singing the Australian anthem, which will be their redemption song if they triumph in Paris.
NOTE – Australia has at least six strong rowing medal chances in Paris. You can read about the other Olympic medal contenders here: women’s double sculls | women’s single sculls | men’s eight | women’s eight | men’s four |
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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