Hannah Every-Hall’s path back to the Olympic Games will be laid in a meeting with Rowing Australia next week, with the Bendigo rower undecided about taking a 12-month break from the sport.
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After finishing fifth in the women’s lightweight double sculls with crewmate Bronwen Watson in London, Every-Hall’s desire to win an Olympic medal remains strong.
While the Rio de Janeiro Games are four years away, the 34-year-old needs to be planning now to make her dream a reality.
But it’s not solely her decision, with her family and Rowing Australia set to determine her future.
“Particularly for this first year after the Olympics it will be around whether I can fit (family) around my training and whether I’m allowed to do that because (Rowing Australia) really want to control what you do,” she told the Bendigo Advertiser yesterday.
“You need to keep showing that you’re doing the work and that you’re there or thereabouts.
“At the moment I’m still training pretty much full-time, but I get up at 4.30am or 5 o’clock so that I’m done by the time the kids wake up.
“If I can fit it in around family, I’ll compete for Australia this year, if not then I’ll have a break for a year before going back.”
With a world cup event in Sydney next year, Every-Hall said it would be “amazing” to race in front of a home crowd.
But the emotional toll, more than the physical, of the hours spent training will decide whether she puts herself up for national selection.
“My eldest son is going ‘you can’t go back to rowing, mum’. This is his first year of school and I didn’t know half of his friends until about a month ago when I started taking him to school when I got home. That’s emotionally really hard,” she said.