Just perfect: Bond bows out in style

There appeared no way Hamish Bond could improve on perfection. As he and Eric Murray crossed the line at the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, it capped an eightyear unbeaten period which marked the Kiwi pair as arguably the greatest rowing boat in history.

Murray hung up the oars months later and Bond went seeking a new challenge, which remarkably led to a bronze medal on the bike at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Yet what he achieved at Tokyo may have been better than anything that came before.

After a somewhat frustrating exit from cycling, Bond took to the water again with a bigger challenge than the one he and Murray embarked on together after the four they were world champions in a year before failed to make the A final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The Dunedin product opted to spearhead the New Zealand men’s eight aimed at the Tokyo Olympics. And it wasn’t just a place in the boat either – Bond sought to lead from the front.

‘‘When I returned to rowing I genuinely thought, ‘look, I know how to row a boat fast, I’ll teach these guys and it should go well’,’’ Bond said prior to the Games.

‘‘It’s been quite a learning process . . . we don’t have anyone, athlete or coach, who’s won an Olympic gold medal or set a world record in the eight. It’s been somewhat of a case of throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks in terms of how we row the boat.’’

Part of his role was to convince Michael Brake and Tom Murray, genuine medal contenders for Tokyo in the pair, that they’d be better-served switching to an eight they’d been in previously with outstanding potential but without elite success.

With him in Tokyo were four crew members aged 24 or younger who flourished, meaning the whip-smart Bond could feel comfortable about his major hand in pushing all-in with the big boat.

‘‘I knew empirically – I knew it was backed up on paper,’’ Bond said.

‘‘I was far more enthused to carry on training the extra year given that I could see on paper ‘look, I think this stacks up’.

‘‘I genuinely thought, man-forman, we had the best crew. If we put out four pairs, I’m pretty sure we would have won that kind of race.’’

The eight, guided by coxswain Sam Bosworth, improved throughout their week of racing in Tokyo to romp away from the more-favoured crew to win a memorable gold.

It meant Bond had his third consecutive Olympic gold, putting him now behind only Dame Lisa Carrington (five) and Ian Ferguson (four) as New Zealand’s leading gold medal-winner alongside Sir Peter Snell and Paul MacDonald.

If you fancy a debate over who the greatest of the great is, go ahead and waste a few hours – or be content with the words of the perfectly placed Eric Murray.

‘‘He’s definitely the best rower we’ve ever produced. He’s definitely right up there with the best Olympians New Zealand’s ever produced.’’

Now that’s over, it’s time for the focus to be on Team Bond with wife Lizzie, a doctor, and children Finlay, Imogen and Phoebe.

‘‘Rowing for the bulk of my career has defined me as a person, I now have my family and other priorities and it feels like the right move to make,’’ Bond said yesterday.

Impossible to argue with a sportsman who made all the right moves.