The first medals have been awarded at the Sea Forest Waterway – and a new set of Olympic Champions has been crowned. Here are a few reactions from the course.

For many this has been years of training, hoping and working. The French men’s double finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Rio, and ninth at the World Championships last year, but they managed to find gold here in Tokyo.

“It’s an unbelievable revenge. We were very disillusioned by the result at the previous Olympics. You have to believe in the mission.

“It’s coming back each time and looking for more, more, more. Today we were ready. Five years ago we weren’t,” says Matthieu Androdias, men’s double sculls, France, gold.

The young combination of Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar managed to pull off the unthinkable at age 22, Olympic gold. They attribute it to their mindset.

“We think that we can do it if we’re together, always together. That’s what we did today. We had a very strong start, we wanted to have a good time at the finish and we did it,” says Simona Radis, women’s double sculls, Romania, gold.

Ancuta Bodnar (b), Simona Radis (s), Women’s Double Sculls, Romania, gold, 2020 Olympic Games Regatta, Tokyo, Japan / World Rowing/Detlev Seyb

For some, they have to handle being the favourites, and the resulting pressure.

“Of course there’s pressure, if you’re world champion of 2019 … you have to deal with that, but we try not focus on that, to focus on what we do best, and that’s rowing,” says Dirk Uittenbogaard, men’s quadruple sculls, Netherlands, gold.

They also had a specific race plan to make the best of the situation.

“It was difficult to plan ahead, but we knew that the wind was going to be difficult and that the crosswind was going to cause some very difficult conditions in the first part. We had to stay cool, stay relaxed, and focus on good rowing. We had crosswind all week, so we had to manage it here. I think the first days were a little bit difficult, but the last two or three days we really got in a rhythm and focus,” Uittenbogaard says.

And a few crews made history today. The Australian men’s four won the event after 25 years.

“We obviously wanted to win it back for Australia, it’s been a long time, it’s been, what, 25 years since the Awesome Foursome, and a lot of crews have come close. Hilly (Alex HILL) just missed out in Rio. I was watching him in the pub last time in Rio so it was good to be out there today and help him get it over the line,” says Jack Hargreaves, men’s four, Australia, gold.

And the Irish women’s four is the first-ever female crew to win a medal in rowing for Ireland.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. We’re over the moon,” says Aifric Keogh, women’s four, Ireland, bronze.

She adds later, “It’s a big boat that we’re fielding, and also multiple boats here in Tokyo. It shows the depth and growth of the programme.”

Aifric Keogh (b), Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh, Emily Hegarty (s), Women’s Four, Ireland, bronze, 2020 Olympic Games Regatta, Tokyo, Japan / World Rowing/Detlev Seyb

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