ROWING/OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION REGATTA: ALL THE work, all the twists and turns behind the scenes, all the tension here. It came down to this one race, the final of the Olympic Qualifier, and Ireland had the self-belief, the technique and the courage to go and nail their ticket to Beijing. Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearóid Towey and Cathal Moynihan finished a comfortable second to Germany, well clear of the other crews, including the ambitious Serbs.
The Irish posed for photographs afterwards with their medals, and accepted the plaudits of the flag-waving supporters. But, as coach John Holland put it, this was not an end but "a first step".
Ireland blasted off the blocks, producing one of their best ever opening 500 metres. The intention was to spike the guns of the fast starters Spain, and it worked. They then chased the Germans down the course, but could not catch them with their final push, as they paid for their fiery start.
But it was of no moment; the Ireland lightweight four had finally joined their heavyweight counterparts in booking their place in Beijing. It ended a torturous period since the lightweights' failure to qualify at the World Championships last year in Munich.
"It's been a really hard year," said strokeman Paul Griffin. "We rose out of the dead. Ten months ago in Munich was the low point of my rowing career. And now . . .
"(We've come through a) hard winter. The boys have been great; coaching's been great; everything's been good. This has been a good mid-season goal for us and it's a clean sheet now to Beijing, which is what we always wanted."
Holland took over this crew after the 12th place in Munich sparked action that removed the crew from the control of head coach Harald Jahrling.
Towey returned after a season away from the sport and the crew campaigned this year with the same personnel that had placed them among the top three in the world in 2006. They made steady progress, but they wanted to step up again.
Last week Holland brought in Moynihan to replace Eugene Coakley. Moynihan had toiled without success last year in the crew, but when he was taken out of his bed to sub in for Coakley in a regatta in Italy early this season he impressed. He pulled his weight then, and he did it again here, now in the crew in his own right.
The line-up for Beijing has yet to be finalised, but Moynihan spoke afterwards of dreaming of the Olympics since he was 12 years old: "That was my best race. I'm delighted I could do it here."
Towey was glad they gave it a lash yesterday.
"If we had just scraped in there, it would be very hard to build ourselves back up for the Games," he said. "We're all keen to do well, not just go to make up the numbers, but to make an impression.
"I think we had to do a race like that for ourselves. And it was one of our best races, definitely.
"It was very surprising, because I did this qualification race in 2000. It's very hard to have a good race because of all the pressure. (But) that was a good race. It felt very strong the whole way. It was enjoyable all the way, until the last 250 metres."
He echoed Griffin's words about the tough seasons of training: "If we had not qualified there it would have been hell. All that hard work."
Archibald spoke of the "ridiculously tough" pressure in this race.
"It's so cut-throat. We've gone out there and come away with medals, but medals don't mean that much today. It was about taking the next step.
"Normally the Serbs and Spanish wouldn't give us too much bother; we wouldn't think about them. But everybody is throwing everything at this. Their lives are on the line. They were coming out and doing mad things - and they're a danger.
"It's not so much that they scared us, but it meant we were up against it. It was great to get a good performance out today."
Asked about the alteration in personnel, he was cool-headed.
"It was definitely a bit of a risk, changing the crew a week before the qualifier. But if you want to move on, if you want to go to Beijing and perform and be on the podium there, these decisions have to be made. It's never easy, but we're here today. So, I think it's worked out well so far."
Jahrling, in keeping with the cheery mood he has been in at this regatta, praised his former team's performance.
"That was good," he said, adding that it would be a pity if the heavy four had been alone as Ireland's representatives in China.
He confirmed he would leave the Ireland job in September.
"I've done my four years," he said, refusing to speculate on his next move. "I'm not going to be unemployed," he chuckled.
But yesterday was not a day to talk about coaches. Jahrling looked out at the lake, calm and bathed in sunshine. "It's all about the athletes," he said.
FINALS MEN:
Lightweight Four Final (First two qualify for Olympics): 1 Germany (B Seibt, J Schoemann-Finck, J Kuehner, M Kuehner) 6:03.97, 2 Ireland (C Moynihan, G Towey, R Archibald, P Griffin) 6:06.34; 3 Serbia 6:09.57, 4 Spain 6:11.80, 5 Czech Republic 6:11.23, 6 Switzerland 6:13.66.
Other Qualifiers: Eight: 1 Netherlands 5:34.75. Four: 1 Australia 6:05.85, 2 China 6:07.15. Pair: 1 Canada 6:44.28, 2 Italy 6:46.62. Quadruple Sculls: 1 Belarus 5:55.71, 2 Slovenia 5:55.97. Double Sculls: 1 China 6:32.59, 2 Russia 6:36.10. Single Scull: 1 United States (K Jurkowski) 7:18.00, 2 Lithuania (M Griskonis) 7:18.51, 3 Estonia (A Jaemsae) 7:20.15. Lightweight Double Sculls: 1 New Zealand 6:26.88, 2 Portugal 6:29.46, 3 Canada 6:30.37.
WOMEN:
Eight: 1 Canada 6:15.37, 2 Netherlands 6:15.71. Pair: 1 France 7:36.69, 2 Britain 7:37.67. Quadruple Sculls: 1 Russia 6:39.42. Double Sculls: 1 Ukraine 7:18.98, 2 Australia 7:22.03. Lightweight Double Sculls: 1 Netherlands, 2 United States. Single Scull: 1 Australia (P Savage) 7:58.33, 2 Italy (G Bascelli) 8:01.24, 3 Serbia (I Obradovic) 8:02.49.
