The Great Britain team, says its men's coach Jürgen Grobler, is the strongest ever
The anticipation and excitement are all but tangible in British rowing, with the Olympics less than four months away. More than a few ripples were generated on the Thames at Caversham on Wednesday by the announcement of the GB crews for the looming World Cup regattas in Belgrade, Lucerne and Munich, with a clear sense that something special may be bubbling. "We have the strongest team ever," said the men's coach, Jürgen Grobler, making the remarkable sound matter-of-fact.
Medal prospects are so bright that David Tanner, the GB Rowing performance director, admitted he may yet have to raise his projected tally. The present target is four to six but Tanner concedes UK Sport will "probably try and get me up" when the final assessment is made in late June. No country in recent times has won more than the six rowing medals of various hues achieved by the British team in Beijing in 2008, so anything more really would be something. "Our aim is to be the top nation again – that's the goal," said Tanner, keen for the British public to appreciate that cycling is not the only sport in town. "It's the most important season anyone in our sport has experienced."
He made clear, however, the emphasis would be on winning gold medals rather than settling for second or third. That objective explains the reshuffling of the crews who will compete in the World Cup and, unless injury or form intervenes, the Olympics as well. The most obvious example is the men's four where, in a sub-plot worthy of Jerome K Jerome, three men are in the boat already with Alex Partridge and Tom James still in contention to join them. Partridge is less than ecstatic that nothing is yet confirmed but there is absolutely no room for sentiment in Grobler's world.
It means Pete Reed and Andy Triggs Hodge are set to defend their Olympic title, having spent the past three years racing as a pair, with Alex Gregory also assured of a seat. James, the Welshman who won gold alongside Hodge and Reed in Beijing, is now fit again and is not going to wave through the 31-year-old Partridge, who was denied a potential gold medal in 2004 when he suffered a collapsed lung and had to pull out of the Athens Games.
Uncertainty still surrounds the precise make-up of the men's eight, although the crew already looks set to feature one of the unlikelier duos of the Games. Stroking the World Cup boat will be Constantine Louloudis, a 20-year-old Old Etonian who is studying classics at Oxford University but has put his studies on hold in an effort to win Olympic gold. Greg Searle, at 40, is twice his age but his bid to recapture his glittering youth, or more specifically the gold medal he famously won with his brother Jonny at Barcelona in 1992, looks destined to generate huge interest.
Searle's story is a classic tale of Olympian desire overcoming common sense. He was giving a coaching workshop to a group of Honda car dealers on the 2007 day London was awarded the Olympics and realised the men's eight final was scheduled to take place virtually 20 years to the day of his Barcelona triumph. In 2009 he announced his return to international rowing and has been working daily ever since to turn a pipe dream into reality, ignoring the cries of "Grandad" from his younger colleagues.
The sacrifices have been considerable. Instead of a family holiday to Tenerife with his wife Jenny and two children next week, he will be heading off to training camp. On his 40th birthday last month he had to leave the house for fitness testing before saying hello to his kids, reading his cards and opening his presents. "I've tried to make every day matter. That's what's got me here. Each day I've chosen to get eight hours' sleep, go to bed at 10 o'clock and drink water and decaf tea." Even football in the garden with his eight-year-old son Adam has had to be abandoned in case he tweaks his back. "It's difficult not to be able to do that. Last Saturday I convinced him to come in and play darts, only to fall asleep on his bed."
Similar tales of dedication abound. The most fancied medal hopefuls of the lot are Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins in the women's double sculls, a prospect made all the more tantalising by Grainger's three previous Olympic silver medals. When Tanner insists this will be the best GB squad ever to take to the water, he does so with understandable optimism.