Never say never again
He’s now 34 but Hamish Bond says he’s in as good a shape as ever as he pursues a third consecutive Olympic gold medal. IAN ANDERSON reports.
Hamish Bond says he’s in as good shape as he’s ever been as he pursues a third consecutive Olympic gold medal.
Bond, who will turn 35 this month, said he saw no reason why he shouldn’t be capable of matching his physical output from previous Olympic Games triumphs ahead of the postponed Tokyo games.
‘‘I don’t think you should see too much drop off through your midthirties – I think it’s largely going to be dependent on injury and motivation really,’’ said Bond, who is part of Rowing New Zealand’s elite sweep oar training squad.
‘‘On an individual level, I think I’m in as good a shape as I’ve really ever been to be honest – right near PB speed.
‘‘It certainly takes a bit more effort to keep the wheels greased. I think I’ve learnt a few things – I wouldn’t say short cuts but I’ve learnt more on what are the key sessions to get done to get optimal performance.
‘‘I have a lot of aerobic training in the bank so you only have to apply the heat for a few months to get most of the way back to the boil.’’
Bond won gold in the men’s coxless pair with Eric Murray at London 2012 and Rio 2016 as part of an eight-year unbeaten record in the boat before taking a break from the sport.
He won a cycling bronze in the road time trial at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and returned to rowing the following year.
He was part of the men’s eight which narrowly missed qualifying for the scheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the 2019 world championships and was likely to contest a final qualifying regatta last year before the Covid19 pandemic caused its postponement.
‘‘For me, the question marks were more around could I handle it physically,’’ Bond said of his return to pursue further Olympic success.
‘‘There’s been a few bumps along the road in terms of injuries but I’ve had a good run these last few months.’’
Bond did need two to three months on modified training out of the water with a rib stress fracture late last year and he admitted he probably could have avoided the problem.
‘‘You could always manage things a bit smarter – there’s always one session for me when I push through a niggle that I should have taken a step back from and that’s often the one that tips you over the edge and turns a three-day injury into a three-month one.
‘‘I haven’t always been the smartest on that front.’’
Rowing NZ is still considering sending a men’s eight and men’s quad to contest the final 2021 Olympic qualification regatta scheduled for May 15-17 in Lucerne, Switzerland – but will first wait until World Rowing announces by February 22 if the regatta will go ahead.
‘‘I’m not exactly sure how that’s going to shake down – how qualification is going to work, is the eight going to go to a qualification regatta,’’ Bond said.
‘‘As I understand it there’s a fair bit of resistance from countries that would struggle travelling to and from Europe – US, Canada, even Great Britain.
‘‘If we had to go, we’re facing lockdown on return and then trying to train a month out from the Olympics.’’
So Bond said his focus – and his recommendation to the rest of the squad as massive doubts linger over whether the Tokyo Olympics will be held – was to simply think every day about making whatever boat you’re in go as fast as possible.
It’s possible Bond could yet compete in Tokyo in a pair with another Murray – he and Tom Murray impressed when winning the that title at the North Island championships at Lake Karapiro last weekend.
Murray and Michael Brake won silver at the 2019 world championships in the boat.
Bond said he didn’t ponder the prospect of the Olympics being cancelled while training, but acknowledged it was hard to ignore when out of the boat.
‘‘As to whether I think they’re going to go ahead, I don’t know.
‘‘I don’t think there’s the appetite from a large percentage of the population – obviously there’s bigger issues.
‘‘It’s the balance between the financial implications for Japan and the IOC, weighed up against the potential health risks for the participants and the Japanese public.
‘‘I’m not too caught up by it given that it sort of comes as the cream on top.
‘‘I’ve been lucky to achieve everything I thought I would and it’d be great to get a run at one more.’’
‘‘I’ve been lucky to achieve everything I thought I would and it’d be great to get a run at one more.’’ Hamish Bond