Making a big splash: The little tactician behind golden glory

It is a time-honoured tradition that had been a long time coming for a New Zealand eight. Almost half a century after Simon Dickie was tossed into the waters at Munich’s Olympic Rowing Regatta Centre, Cantabrian Sam Bosworth made a splash in Tokyo. Chris Barclay catches up with the Kiwi gold medal-winning coxswain.

There was no resistance – that would be futile. And, really, it’s a perk of the job, the post-race dunking for a triumphant eights’ last member across the line.

Sam Bosworth was gleefully launched into the Sea Forest Waterway last Friday. The 27-year-old coxswain is familiar with the notion of it’s all ‘water off a duck’s back’.

The slightest component of an elite rowing crew invariably needs the thickest skin. Size-wise, the cox is comparable to a jockey, though Bosworth’s horsepower does talk back.

Bosworth once considered the racing industry as a profession when he was growing up in North Canterbury – a relative was a rider turned trainer, now based in the Waikato.

Instead the middle child of three brothers opted for uncle Tom Hazlett’s other sporting passion.

Hazlett was a cox at Christ’s College, and Bosworth followed that example after transitioning from cricket at the end of Year 9.

“I rang him (Hazlett) and he said ‘Give it a crack’. I was thinking about being a jockey as well, it’s a pretty awesome sport, but I was just so wrapped up in rowing.”

Henry Smith, master in charge of rowing at Christ’s College, is relieved the old boy chose his sport when reflecting on a decade-long association.

Smith started coaching Bosworth from under-16 level through to under-18 level with current New Zealand eights coach Tony O’Connor.

He realised Bosworth had the requisite skills long before Christ’s College won the Maadi Cup in 2012 on Lake Ruataniwha.

“I remember saying to the New Zealand selector at the time the difference between our crew and everyone else was the pilot we had on board. And if they let that one go they’d kick themselves. We always knew he had something,” Smith said.

While you can mould an astute coxswain, certain elements cannot be taught.

“It’s probably 50-50,” Smith reckoned.

“The feel and motivation, some people have and some people don’t,” Smith said.

“The x-factor and the personality the coxswain has, their ability to articulate it and bring the best out in a crew, that’s something they’ve got to develop themselves.”

Smith said while the coxswain was the tiniest crew member – the minimum weight is 55kg and rarely exceeded – the weight of a race sat squarely on their slender shoulders.

“You push them off 45 minutes before the start time, it’ll be an hour before you see them again and during that time the coxon is in charge,” he said.

“It’s not like rugby where the water boy can go on, he’s all mic’d up and he can deliver messages from the coach.

“They’re a tactician on the boat, a coach on the water . . . you’ve got to be pretty self-assured, be able to motivate, steer the boat and they have to take quite a bit of criticism,” he said.

“They’re the person in charge of asking the athlete to deliver more and more when they’re absolutely exhausted. They must have a mindset where they can take it on the chin and grow without taking a whole lot of stuff to heart.”

Bosworth admitted it wasn’t all smooth sailing, but the spiky observations and spirited debates made all those hours on Lake Karapiro worthwhile when the eight emulated the black-singleted 1972 crew to win rowing’s blue riband event.  

“To be a good coxswain you have to work with people, that may be one of my strengths,” said the Lincoln University Bachelor of environmental management and planning graduate, who has been based at Rowing New Zealand’s finishing school in Cambridge since 2016.

“I don’t think you have to be mates, you just have to make sure that every day you turn up to training you’re bringing your best self.

“I play golf with some of the boys. There’s a time to be serious and a time when we can have a laugh.”

Bosworth, who also competes for the Avon Rowing Club, traced his devotion to rowing back to selection in the South Island squad at under-17 level, and a successful regatta with the lightweight coxed four.

“That’s when I thought ‘This could be a go’. I remember watching the Olympics thinking ‘Man, I’d love to go there one day’.”

Christ’s College’s Maadi Cup-winning exploits nine years ago was also critical.

“We won and two coxswains went up to triaI. I was picked for the New Zealand junior (under-19) coxed four. If we hadn’t been successful at school that opportunity may have never arisen.”

Once he completes his fortnight of managed isolation in Christchurch, Bosworth plans to visit his old school and carry on a mentoring programme he benefited from as a teenager, a gesture Smith would appreciate before the next Maadi Cup in late March.

“When he’s back he’ll hop in and do a session or two with the boys. What he can articulate can take us weeks to identify through the eye. That’s a huge benefit,” he said.

Bosworth thought RNZ duties resumed in October, and until then he was happy for an octuple scull to stay in storage.

“I’ll take some time off, have a bit of a break and enjoy catching up with family and friends. I can’t wait to get down to Wanaka and go skiing,” he said.

His parents Pete and Ange have a vineyard in Waipara so there could be some odd jobs that need doing.

And when he returns to Cambridge there’s also a stress-free way to navigate Karapiro, with brothers Olly and Tom.

“We’ve got a speedboat. Mum and dad were up at Christmas and it was the first time I’d been on the lake in a non-rowing boat.

“They couldn’t believe how far we rowed up the lake. I said ‘Yeah, it’s 30k return at least once a week.”