Hamish Bond is headed to his third Olympics after the men’s eight’s triumph at the final qualifier in Switzerland, but the two-time champion knows this campaign will be something completely different.
The New Zealand men's eight travelled halfway around the world for last night’s ‘last chance regatta’ race in Lucerne but even after securing a spot in Tokyo, Bond said there was no celebrating.
“No trips down to the pub or anything tonight,” Bond told 1 NEWS.
“We'll be just in bed and keeping to ourselves.”
Bond’s description is the reality of sport in a pandemic and because of that, the Olympic Games are going to be very, very different for returning athletes such as the champion rower.
“It's not going to be an overly fun or enjoyable environment,” he said.
“The reality is that it's not going to be the same and it's not going to be the hype and glamour of past Olympics.”
That makes coming home with something to show for it even more important but Bond admits this time around he's in unchartered territory.
“Every other games I've gone in as a world champion and having to go a last chance qualifying regatta is a little bit different for me but the eight was the project I wanted to try and get over the line and this was the route we had to take.”
The bad news is instead of heading back to Lake Karapiro to prepare for the Olympics in July, the eight now have to spend two weeks quarantining in a hotel room.
The good news, though: Unlike the rest of the Kiwi team, they've experienced recent competition.
“We haven't raced internationally in two years since 2019 so coming out and getting a bit of experience allows us to set some more realistic expectations for the Olympics,” Bond said.
"I’d say at the moment we’re in the pack. We’re probably in amongst half a dozen crews vying for medals at the Olympic Games and over the next six weeks we have to do something to get ourselves edging ahead of that pack."
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