Post-Olympic blues are real but five Team GB rowers are taking them a little more literally.
The Boat Race returns to its rightful home on the River Thames with a quintet of British Olympians in tow across both women’s and men’s races.
Their oars had barely left the choppy waters of Tokyo’s Sea Forest Waterway when four medallists turned their focus towards the oldest and biggest race in their sport.
Two of the strongest rowers in the world, Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith, are among them.
Having won Olympic bronze together in the eight, they are seated next to each other in the Cambridge boat aiming for a fourth straight victory in the men’s race.
“The Boat Race is much more gladiatorial and I like that,” said Wynne-Griffith. “It’s a very different challenge, a new adventure, which is really exciting.
“The last four years have been very singularly focused on the Olympics. I felt like I needed a bit more mental stimulation and do something slightly different.
“It’s benefited me personally but also athletically as well. I’ll be a stronger athlete for it in Paris.”
Wynne-Griffith sat in the six seat of his Olympic boat and will be a little further back, in five, on the journey from Putney to Mortlake.
The move might seem minuscule but a change of sides has made the 27-year-old re-wire his rowing.
“It’s like learning how to brush your teeth with your wrong hand,” he explained.
“If you've ever picked up a razor and tried to shave with the opposite hand, it's like suddenly everything's going in the wrong direction.
“So that has been really fun and mentally re-energising. It’s a bold step to make and I don't think I would have done that if I'd stayed within the team.”
George and Wynne-Griffith have been inseparable for a while - they were in the same year group at Radley College and lived with each other while training for Tokyo.
They paired up for November's British Trials and won by a margin of more than ten seconds.
Four years racing each other while attending Princeton and Yale was the only time they have been at cross-purposes.
“It's pretty cool how our journeys are intertwined,” said George.
“It’s great to have Ollie to rely on to talk about things and I feel like he feels the same way. We completely understand how each other work and we’re an anchor for each other.”
“Ultimately what we're both coming back to do is to go and win in Paris and this is all part of the journey to get there.”
Trying to turn the tide for Oxford will be Tokyo silver medallist Angus Groom, part of a history-making quad who won Britain’s first Olympic medal in the event.
It turns out that hectic final will be his last international race and the Boat Race his last dance, equipping him for weightier challenges in the professional world.
“The thing I’m most grateful to rowing for is the skills it teaches you in terms of communicating with people,” said Groom.
“It forces you to work very closely as a team and in a way that other areas of life can’t do. I’m looking forward to taking those skills into my career as a scientist.
“I’m working on a genetics project researching the very early stages of leukaemia - I’m still fairly green in the lab, and I need to work out my direction, and rowing will help me do that.”
Joining Groom in the Oxford line-up is Charles Elwes, who was the surprise package in the men’s eight last season.
The 24-year-old took advantage of the postponement of the Games and unseated Matthew Tarrant, winning European gold and an Olympic gong in his first senior season.
In the women’s race, Imogen Grant will have more fire in their belly than most taking to the start line on Sunday.
Grant, who will stroke the Cambridge boat aiming to continue their dominance, missed out on a medal in the women’s lightweight double by the barest of margins.
She crossed the line with Emily Craig just 0.01 seconds short of a medal.
“I’ve had a couple of sleepless nights, thinking about what if,” she said.
“If I can give one stroke that makes me go an inch further on race day, that may well be the margin of victory and defeat. That’s definitely on my mind here.”
The nature of the beast is different - these five will be racing 6.8km with bends and streams rather than 2km in a straight line.
“It’s a different vibe,” said Wynne-Griffith. “But we’ll still be putting our blade in at the front end and taking long, hard strokes at rate.
“I’m just there to work for 20 minutes and put myself in a hole, really.”
Sportsbeat 2022