Celebrating our Men in the Australian Men's Eight

Celebrating the Victorian's in the Australian Men's Eight 

Rowing Victoria is pleased to be able to recongise the hard work and dedication of all the men in the Australian Men's Eight that raced at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

There were six Victorian's in the Men's Eight with cox Stuart Sim (MUBC), Josh Booth (MUBC), Simon Keenan (MUBC), Tim Masters (UTS, Nick Lavery (UTS), and Angus Widdicombe (Mercantile) along with reserve Rohan Lavery (MUBC). 

We are very pleased to be able to share with you Josh Booth and Nick Lavery's experience from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 

What was your facourite highlight or moment from attending the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? 

Nick - My favourite moment was spending time with my brother over in the village. Going to the olympics together was fun.

Josh - The opportunity to race in an A-final- this represents a chance to test yourself and crew on the biggest of stages and see where you stand against the world.

What do you wish you knew before attending the Tokyo 2020 Olympics? 

Nick -  I wish I knew better what the intensity of the racing would be like, rather than figuring it out when I got there.

Josh - How simple and carefree it would be in the end!

What was your motivation to keep you training over the past 18 months? 

Nick - I am pretty self motivated so I didn’t really think about it too much. It kind of just became what I did and I accepted it. Making the training a part of the lifestyle helped, and being able to continue other things around training like studying keeps you connected to the outside world.

Josh - The hope to be able to race and what I owed to my crewmates and teammates over what has been an especially long quadrennium.

What words of encouragement would you like to say to the next generation of rowers coming through about pursing their dreams of making the Olympics? 

Nick -Keep your foot on the gas. There is plenty of time to slow down later in life. Keep attending to multiple aspects of your life while you’re rowing, a bit of detachment from your results will make you perform consistently well.

Josh - There is no substitute for hard work and for owning your performance on a day to day basis

Photo Credit to Rowing Australia and Nick Lavery