DESPITE his quest for an Olympic gold medal being postponed until next year, rower and former Riverlander Alexander Hill still has his eyes on the prize.
Hill, a multiple world champion, looked set to be in the box seat for a medal at this year’s Tokyo Olympics, with the Australian men’s four crew, until the games were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result of the ongoing pandemic, Hill is currently enjoying an extended stay at home in the Riverland.
“It’s great to be home with family in unprecedented times like the present,” Hill said.
“I get to come back home to the Riverland for a week over Christmas and during our three-week break after World Championships.
“Occasionally I will get back for a long weekend if I get the chance.
“Personally, I am in a very good position and very fortunate to be able to use the Murray River to train on and fortunate enough that the South Australian Sports Institute have loaned me a boat and plenty of training equipment to use while at home in isolation.”
The 27-year-old said he was training interstate when the coronavirus pandemic first took hold.
“When we first found out about the coronavirus we were actually on a training camp in Launceston, Tasmania, to get away from the hazardous smoke that was being caused by the bush fires that surrounded our National Training Centre in Canberra,” he said.
Hill, who won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics, agreed with the decision to postpone the 2020 games.
“The Olympics being postponed was not a surprise,” he said.
“There were a lot of big events being cancelled due to this pandemic in which sport definitely had to take a back seat.”
Hill said he is embracing the challenge of making sure he is at his peak for next year’s event.
“It is a little frustrating, however we have to be adaptable and simply look at it as an opportunity to become faster over the next year heading into 2021,” he said.
“Preparations will be the same as this year and Rowing Australia will reselect boats in 2021 to make sure they are up to standard to win medals.”
Despite having registered success in pairs events last year, Hill believes the fours is where his strengths lie.
“Over this Olympic cycle, (the last three years) I have rowed mostly in the four with a few races over 2019 in a pair,” he said.
“This year I had been selected back in the four, where we won two World Championships gold medals over the Olympic cycle.
“Our goal for the Olympics is to bring back a gold medal.
“With the postponement the only thing that has changed are the goal posts.
“As a four we have to prove to Rowing Australia we are still in form to be reselected for 2021.”