In this week’s Olympics update, we look at further surprising rowing news out of New Zealand, an interesting athlete survey result from the IOC, a heat-less World Cup format, a strong cast of familiar faces on the USA W4x invite list, and rowing taking its place in the continued growth of virtual sports.
NZ LW2x out of the Olympics
In another stunning bit of news in a stunning year, NZ Rowing that it will be withdrawing the NZ LW2x from the Tokyo Olympics.
The move is all the more surprising because the Kiwi crew of Zoe McBride and Jackie Kiddle won the World Championships in 2019, and looked to be the crew to beat in Tokyo.
We will not see McBride & Kiddle in Tokyo
When Zoe McBride opted for a sudden retirement a few months ago, Kiddle suddenly found herself solo; it seems almost inconceivable that, given the tremendous talent level in New Zealand, the NZ Rowing selectors could not identify a suitable replacement for McBride, and opted to scratch the boat from the Olympics instead.
From FISA doc regarding reallocation of unused qualification spots: If the boat qualified through the 2019 FISA World Rowing Championships, the quota place will be reallocated to the next highest placed boat not yet qualified from…
