Bendigo rower Hannah Every-Hall is within touching distance of the Australian team for the London Olympic Games after the national selectors recommended her to the Rowing Australia board yesterday.
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The RA board has to ratify Every-Hall’s selection in the Australian women’s lightweight double sculls boat, but she is considered a strong chance to be given the green light to attend her first Olympics later this year.
Every-Hall was told of her recommendation at a meeting with selectors yesterday, with the final team set to be officially announced on Sunday.
“I think I held my breath when I went into the meeting for about three minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever held my breath for so long,” an ecstatic Every-Hall said yesterday.
“When they told me, I had a grin from ear to ear and felt like all my Christmases had come at once.
“It hasn’t sunk in until now that I’m actually starting to tell my family – it’s starting to become a little bit more real,” said the dual winner of the bankmecu-sponsored Bendigo Advertiser-WIN Television Sports Star of the Year award.
But Every-Hall admitted to mixed feelings after her normal rowing partner, Victorian Alice McNamara, missed out on selection for the other berth to NSW’s Bronwen Watson.
“Having been with Alice for the last two years, it’s kind of bitter-sweet,” the 34-year-old said.
“I’m really excited to be rowing on the Olympic team and – well, hopefully, to finally be in the Olympic team – and I’m excited to be rowing with Bronwen, but after the journey I’ve had with Alice it’s bitter-sweet.
“You ride the emotional roller-coaster together. One half of me wants to get really excited and then the other half is going through probably what Alice is going through.
“I suppose what it did show is the group of four lightweights that we did have was incredibly close and it was really tough to make final decisions.”
Every-Hall has hardly put a foot wrong on the path to the Olympics after she won the national title in the single lightweight scull earlier this month and performed consistently well at both selection trials.
Now based in Canberra, Every-Hall hopes to return to Bendigo at Easter before the Australian rowing team leaves for Europe in six weeks to contest two World Cup events in Switzerland and Germany.
The team will stay in Europe and train at the Australian Institute of Sport’s base in Italy before heading to London in July.
