Listen to the reaction of the athletes that have qualified their boats for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after the semi-finals A/B of the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
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00:00 It's pretty emotional, I think at this point now I've experienced all the highs, almost
00:06 all the highs and lows of rowing the single and so to be back in the A final is such a
00:10 relief and to have the boat qualified, I'm proud that I can add that to the USA tally
00:16 of boats qualified and hopefully more to come.
00:20 Fourth Olympics, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.
00:24 I'm still somewhere between water and sky, I don't know, more a little bit in the sky,
00:31 but yeah, knocking on heaven's door.
00:36 I'm happy, I couldn't wait for them.
00:40 I'm happy with the result, I can't wait to go to Paris and to compete again at the Olympics
00:47 because I still have the, like, I miss the Olympic Games from Tokyo so much and I want
00:58 to feel that sentiment again.
00:59 Oh, it's incredible, yeah, I mean, this might be the hardest boat to qualify, at least one
01:05 of the hardest boats.
01:09 So yeah, I mean, I knew coming in that it was going to be hard, like, looking at both
01:13 these semifinals, there's like eight, nine rowers that are really, really good, maybe
01:17 more, really big names, so to be able to qualify amongst them is really special.
01:24 It's great, the boats are qualified, doesn't mean that I am, so that's a bit different
01:29 for rowing, we qualify the boat first and then we just wait and see if we can take the
01:33 seat, so yeah, it's one job done.
01:36 Oh, it's amazing, it's number five for me, so I feel pretty chuffed with that.
01:41 If someone had told me when I was at my first that I'd be doing five, I'd have probably
01:45 laughed at them, so.
01:46 I guess it means quite a lot to me, the New Zealand obviously has a lot of prestige and
01:52 history in the single scull with the likes of your Mahe Drysdales and your Rumble Dales,
01:56 so while I'm still yet to race at the Olympics in this boat class, it's a real privilege
02:01 to say that I qualified this boat.
02:02 Yeah, I was hoping for this and you have to do it, so I'm really happy that it worked
02:07 out.
02:08 I wanted to do better in Paris than I did in Tokyo, so that's really the first step
02:13 towards Paris now for me.
02:16 A semi-final in the qualifying year in the Olympic year is the most nerve-wracking thing,
02:20 because everyone wants to be in that A-final, so I'm just stoked to be in the top three
02:25 to qualify, I'll get to the last 500 metres and I was thinking, just clear the knees and
02:30 don't take any bad strokes, so yeah, I'm just stoked to be going to the A-final and keen
02:35 for hopefully a good race and to be surrounded by amazing other single scullers, so very
02:40 happy.
02:41 Qualifying for the Olympics is very, very emotional and I'm very happy to share this
02:47 with Matteo, the young guys, with Big Earth and we're friends.
02:54 It's a unique dynamic, this kind of World Championships where everyone has to qualify,
02:58 so it's like an intense atmosphere.
03:01 It's already something of a sneak preview of the Olympics I think, so great, we did
03:08 great today, so I was really happy with that.
03:10 We are very happy, especially because it's a qualifying place, nothing is for granted,
03:16 nothing is given, so we need to earn it and we are really happy.
03:19 The fourth Olympics, sounds surreal to be honest, if somebody told me that 12 years
03:27 ago I wouldn't believe him, but now it's very nice.
03:31 The start was not easy, but at the end we are on fire for Paris, so we said qualification
03:37 for Paris and now we push, push, push and it's OK.
03:41 The hardest thing here is to perform on the day and I think our preparation over the last
03:44 few weeks has just built us up to this moment, so hopefully we'll just keep getting better
03:48 and better, but anyway you can come sixth or first, but we put ourselves in the right
03:52 position and that's all we've done.
03:54 Feels good to get that race out of the way, feels like that's what we came here for and
03:59 it's a real weight off our shoulders.
04:01 Yeah I think we're chuffed as obviously it's been a pretty big year getting one back in
04:07 the boat, let alone to qualify, so I think we can be pretty proud of ourselves.
04:14 We are happy to be qualified.
04:16 Yeah!
04:17 OK, bye!
04:18 [laughter]
04:18 Okay. Bye!
04:20 [laughs]