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Regional | Aotearoa

NZ men's quadruple sculls off to Olympics after Russia fails drug test

Kei te ora kāinga rua te kapa hoe waka tāne takiwhā o Aotearoa ki Ngā Taumāhekeheke Ōrimipia nō te panatanga o te kapa o Rūhia mō te raweke whakapōauau te take.

Kaore i whai urunga ki ngā taumahekeheke i ngā whakamātautau i te Haratua, heoi ko te hoe waka tonu te kai i te ao i te pō, kei tūpono puta ai pea te karanga.

Hei tā Jade Uru mai te tima o Aotearoa, “Everyone just sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. The realisation hadn't quite sunk in that we are going to the Olympics, and so we all kind of jumped out of our seat after five or ten minutes.”

No te ata tonu nei ka pā te kōrero ki te tira o Aotearoa, whai muri i te whakatau a te Uniana Matua Hoe Waka o te Ao, kua panaia te kapa o Ruhia i nga whakataetae Orimipia, nā te kai Trimetazidine a Serjei Fedorovstev.

E ai ki Nathan Flannery mai te tima Aotearoa, “It's never good to find out that sort of things happens in your own sport.  But, for us we are just excited in getting a second opportunity.”

I mutu tuatahi te kapa o Ruhia i nga whakamatautau whai urunga, a na te mutunga tuatoru mai a te kapa o Aotearoa, kihai i eke. Inaianei kua tuwhera te ara ki a Jade Uru, ki a John Storey rātou ko George Bridgewater, ko Nathan Flannery.

“At the moment, we are focusing on what we can do. We are prepared in the sense that we have trained 8 years for this. All we can focus on, is what the next 5 weeks brings and the next day,” hei tā Uru.

Hei tā Flannery, “We've been back in the boat for a few weeks now and its feeling really good and its now about building up that speed which we know we've got. We've got enough time.”

Ka whakangungu tonu te kapa o Aotearoa tae atu ki te rua tekau ma wha o tenei marama, koia te wā ka wehe rātou ki te taha o te tira hoe waka o Aotearoa ki Rio, tōmua i ngā reihi hoe waka tuatahi hei te tuaono o Hereturi kōka.