Mahe Drysdale wears a kakahu,
a traditional Maori feather cloak,
as he carries the flag for New
Zealand during the Opening
Ceremony for the 2008 Beijing
Olympic Games.
Mahe Drysdale came home from the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a bronze medal. He was
expected to win gold and he expected to win gold, but that bronze made him a national
hero.
Drysdale’s lead up to the Olympics put rowing
into the spotlight in New Zealand like it had
never been put before. When Rob Waddell, the
Olympic Champion from Sydney 2000, decided
to make a comeback in 2008 and go after the
men’s single spot, New Zealand selectors were
forced to conduct a series of trials between
Drysdale and Waddell, the likes of which had
never been seen before. Television crews camped
out from dawn on the shores of Lake Karapiro
waiting for selectors to say when the trial would
start while huge numbers of New Zealanders
tuned into their television sets waiting to watch
it live.
the 21-year-old Drysdale who thought; there’s an
ordinary bloke of a similar build doing great things.
“New Zealand was
rebuilding after the
2000 Olympics and
looking for talent,” says
Drysdale. “The selectors
took a chance with me
because of my size and
next thing I was full time
rowing.” >
© 2008 MANAN VATS YAYANA/AFP/Getty Images
For Drysdale it meant going head-to-head with
the man that inspired him to take rowing seriously.
Waddell’s Olympic gold had been watched by
Mahe Drysdale competing in the
final of the men’s single sculls at
the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
