Marc Hinton
Tokyo Olympics: Fourth time a charm as single sculler Emma Twigg powers to gold medal
All those years of agony turned to a golden ecstasy for New Zealand single sculler Emma Twigg in Tokyo on Friday.
The 34-year-old Hawke’s Bay rower won New Zealand's second gold medal of the Olympics, and the rowing regatta, when she powered to an imperious victory in the single sculls at the Sea Forest Waterway. The men's eight would go on to add a memorable gold of their own soon after, and the women a silver in a special hour that will go down in Kiwi sporting folklore.
After finishing an agonising fourth in the same event at the previous two Olympics, this was an emotional and emphatic performance from Twigg as she well and truly laid to rest the ghosts of her past near misses. She was clutch, too, with the weight of the world on her shoulders as she chased her version of Games redemption, absolution, call it what you will.
“I can't believe it, honestly, crossing the line it was disbelief,” she told Sky TV afterwards. “I didn't actually hear the hooter and I thought for a minute I'd stopped before [the end]. I'm lost for words. I can't believe it.
”All these years ... many, many disappointments and I just can't thank the people I've surrounded myself by enough. They got me here. It's not my result, that's my team's.”
It was never in doubt either as Twigg well and truly owned this long overdue special moment at her fourth Olympics. She powered into the lead from the start, taking a 0.23 second advantage over Austrian sculler Magdalena Lobnig at the 500-metre mark.
From there Twigg settled into a smooth, rhythmic stroke that her rivals simply had no answer to. The New Zealander had stretched her lead to over 2 seconds at the halfway point, with biggest threat and other semifinal winner Hanna Prakatsen finally making her move from deep in the field.
There was simply no denying Twigg as she kept that poker face on through the painful second half of the race, leading Prakatsen by 2.73 seconds with 500 metres to go and powering to victory with a fabulous last 500m in an Olympic best time of 7min 13.97sec. The Russian was well back in 7:17.39, with Lobnig claiming the bronze in 7:19.72.
“It was part of my plan. I wanted to be in a position of power in the last 500,” she said afterwards.
Twigg, though, was incredulous at both the result and the Olympic-best time she posted to achieve it.
“I think it's probably going to take some time to sink in,” she said. “I had a great moment with my coach Mike [Rodger] before, who a year ago probably wasn't going to be here with me because of a car crash.
“I feel this is fate, and here we are. It's an amazing feeling.''
The experienced Kiwi said she had always felt positive about her prospects.
“I felt pretty comfortable,” she said. “I knew my times were good through the early rounds. I took inspiration from [victorious women's pair] Kerri (Gowler) and Grace (Prendergast) yesterday, I knew that prognostically I was close to them in recent times.
“So if they could do it, so could I.
”I'm pumped to see our eights come down because I feel like it's going to be a special day.''
The victory, of course, was redemption for Twigg who has found the podium an elusive place to get on to over her Olympics career which has been studded with near-misses.
She was ninth in the single sculls at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then had back-to-back fourth-place finishes in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
In London she was over 3 seconds back of bronze medallist Kim Crow, but in Rio she was shaded by just 0.35sec by Chinese sculler Duan Jingli. That was a result that hit her hard.
Those frustrations and reflections of being so close, yet so far from an Olympic medal then saw Twigg take a two-year hiatus from the sport, before deciding to come back and give it one final tilt in Tokyo.
History now tells us that was an inspired decision.
Do the following activities in a Google doc called Emma Twigg Lit Activities. Put in Wānanga folder
Find at least 5 words in this article that you don’t know the meaning of and using Hippo word find out what they mean. Ecstasy-overwhelming feeling of great happiness. Sculler- someone who rows a boat (using oars). folklore- A way of thinking, or method used to accomplish a task. Emphatic- Where someone Expresses something clearly. Hiatus- A pause or break in a sequence or activity.
Who was the author of this article? Marc Hinton
This is Emma’s fourth Olympics - where did she place in each of the three previous Olympics? She was ninth in the single sculls at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then had back-to-back fourth-place finishes in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
How did Emma feel after she crossed the finish line? What text in the story makes you think that? She was shocked that she won and she was at a loss for words“I can't believe it, honestly, crossing the line it was disbelief,” she told Sky TV afterwards. “I didn't actually hear the hooter and I thought for a minute I'd stopped before [the end]. I'm lost for words. I can't believe it.
What does the author mean by “laid to rest the ghosts of her past near misses”. That she put the past behind her and she’s moved on from her losses
New Zealand won 7 gold medals in total at Tokyo. Name three other sports that we won gold in. Men’s eight, Women's coxless pair, Women’s k-1200m and Women’s k-1500m,
