NZ's golden girls bow out on 30th birthday
10 Oct 2008
New Zealand's Olympic rowing golden girls, the Evers-Swindell twins - Caroline and Georgina - have celebrated their 30th birthday by announcing their retirement.
The Evers-Swindells bow out as champions, who stand alongside Peter Snell, Mark Todd, Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald as New Zealand's only athletes to have won back-to-back Olympic golds.
Double Olympic gold
The announcement comes two months after the pair successfully defended their double-sculls title at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and ends a career that took them to double Olympic gold and three world titles.
Their final dramatic photo-finish triumph in Beijing would probably rate as their most remarkable victory, given they were regarded as outsiders to finish on top of the podium.
After winning three world titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005, the twins' form had been dogged by injury and disappointing results in recent years. When they failed to reach the A final of a World Cup regatta in Poland - just seven weeks before the Olympics - it looked as if their golden reign was over.
"After Poland we went to Beijing just wanting to row as well as we possibly could," Georgina said.
If they never got into a boat again, they could be happy knowing they produced the race of their lives in their last outing, she said.
Natural thing to do
Caroline and Georgina, who grew up on the family orchard in Hawke's Bay on the North Island's eastern coast, took up rowing in their mid-teens, and have spent about half their lives in row boats.
The identical twins who won everything rowing together say they made up their minds to retire without consulting each other.
"We never really chatted about it, I guess we were both just trying to enjoy what we achieved in Beijing and it just seems like a really natural and right thing to do," Caroline said.
Future plans
Further plans are still down the track. They will be kept busy with commitments to their sponsors over the next few months so they're not looking too far ahead.
"We're busy at the moment doing things for our sponsors, which is cool because they have played a huge part in our success," Georgina said.
"But when that dies down probably more so in the New Year we'll have to think about what we want to do and where we go from here. At the moment it's still really about enjoying what happened in Beijing and making the most of the time now to enjoy it."
Georgina said she would like to be involved in rowing in some capacity. "We have no idea what will happen in the future. We've never really had a big break to know how much we would miss rowing. Who knows how we will feel a year or two down the track?"
Key factor
One person who never doubted the Evers-Swindells' competitive credibility was their coach, Dick Tonks, who said after their win in Beijing they still had another two Olympics left in them.
Tonks was a key factor in their success, Georgina said. "No words can describe the part he's played in our performances over the last eight years and we've been really fortunate to have him as a coach."
"The twins are an example of guts and determination that every young athlete can look up to," Tonks said. "They have delivered when it has mattered most and no coach could ever ask for more."
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