THE SPORT OF ROWING Greece at the 1,000, with Denmark and Italy about a half length further back. Hunter: “Our final was a kind of text book race. I know it was close for the first 1,000, but the race is kind of like a blur for me because we had a set race plan, and it didn’t matter how the other people were doing. We’d always do the same thing to a certain point, and then in the last 700 meters, do whatever it takes to win. “Whatever needs to be done, do it, and we were really good at doing that. We showed in our races through the season that no matter where we were, we could still win, like if we were in front we’d win, and if we were down we’d come through.”7667 The margin had remained a closed length from 1,000 to the 1,750, but then Greece made a rush with fifteen strokes to go. Purchase: “We put in the hard work when it was needed, so that we could enjoy the last 250m; all according to the race plan. There was no panic.”7668 Hunter: “They were moving, so I’m not going to say that we were comfortable. When people start homing in on you like that . . . you’re feeling it. “I’m not going to lie. I was in a whole world of agony in the last hundred meters. I couldn’t see anything for the last twenty strokes because I was just completely out of it. “Zac might have been enjoying it 7667 Hunter, op. cit. 7668 Rowing’s final Olympic Champions, www.worldrowing.com, August 17, 2008 www.wharf.co.uk Great Britain Lightweight Men’s Double 2008 Olympic Champion, Shunyi Stroke Mark Hunter, Bow Zac Purchase because he was the one jumping up and down after the finish, but I was in a whole lot of agony. I couldn’t even move.”7669 Mark’s father, Terry Hunter: “He’s worked fifteen years. When he got his first international vest, he said, ‘My dream is to be on that podium with a medal,’ and he’s won Gold.”7670 Postscript Hunter took a year off in 2009 coaching at UCLA in the United States. Purchase missed 2009 due to illness. In 2010, they reunited and won the World Championship on Lake Karapiro and again in Bled in 2011. Their ultimate goal is the 2012 Olympics on the British waters of Dorney Lake. 7669 Hunter, personal conversation, 2009 7670 GB duo wins first lightweight gold, news.bbc.co.uk, August 17, 2008 2132