Rowing has been part of the Olympic Games for more than a century, contested along a 2000 metre course. In 2028, the course will be cut short, prompting one rowing program to explore how that could affect athletes preparing for the games. Riley Rees-Turner is a former footy player turned rower who's now got his heart set on the Olympics.
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00:00Riley Rhys-Turner is putting in the work.
00:06The waist rower won't be at the Paris Olympics, but he's got his eyes set on 2028.
00:11I've just finished my underage career, so first year out of under-23s, so hopefully
00:16to push into the senior team at the end of this year, and then LA in four years' time
00:20being the goal.
00:22A lot of work awaits the former footballer, who only started rowing following a talent
00:28identification day at his high school after concussions ended his football career.
00:33We did a battery of testing, like assault bikes, strength testing, just to see what
00:37sports we'd be suitable for.
00:40I was lucky enough to be chosen for rowing and cycling.
00:43Rowing in LA comes with something of a twist.
00:45The course is 25% shorter than standard, 1500 metres instead of 2000.
00:51That's because it's being held in Long Beach instead of the original location, Lake Paris,
00:56to avoid having to build a satellite Olympic village.
01:00The shorter course is posing a challenge for coaches, with Weiss studying how it will affect
01:05athlete selection.
01:07My first thoughts were around how do training and sessions and preparations change?
01:13Do we have to identify new athletes at all when we're looking at early TID and bringing
01:18these athletes up?
01:20There's also the matter of records, with no Olympics ever having a course this short.
01:25You might just have to have an asterisk next to it saying, like, this was the Olympic record
01:28in 2028, but it was over 1500 and there's not been any other Olympics raced over that
01:33distance, so it will be strange.
01:36While the research continues, Riley is just focused on putting in the strokes in the hopes
01:40of joining Australia's distinguished Olympic rowing fraternity.