John Smith hoping to spring a surprise by returning to Olympic podium

Twelve years after he won a historic gold medal in London, veteran rower John Smith hopes to close out his top-flight career with a bang when he turns out at his fourth Olympic Games in Paris.

Smith formed part of the lightweight coxless four crew who won gold at the London Olympics in 2012, along with James Thompson, Sizwe Ndlovu and Matthew Brittain.

He also competed in the lightweight double sculls at the Rio Olympics in 2016, where he finished fourth with Thompson, and in the men’s coxless four at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, where they settled for 10th position.

After contemplating retirement following the Tokyo Games, Smith made a comeback last year in the hope of chasing one more medal at the Paris showpiece.

Return to form

He linked up with 24-year-old Christopher Baxter and the duo finished sixth in the men’s pair A final at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade last year, though they were nearly 14 seconds outside a podium place.

Showing significant improvement, they went on to grab fourth spot at the second leg of the World Cup series in Lucerne in May, finishing less than four seconds behind winners Great Britain and just 0.11 behind Swiss world champions Roman Roeoesli and Andrin Gulich, who took third place.

And though he admitted the South African pair were underdogs in Paris, Smith felt this could work in their favour in an attempt to cause an upset.

‘Dark horse’ crew

“We are a new combination, a young up-and-comer and an old rower out of retirement,” Smith said at an Olympic farewell function for the RMB national rowing team.

“We have raced the world twice and we have not placed yet. The world expects nothing from us, they don’t fear us, and they underestimate us.

“That makes us an underdog crew – that makes us the dark horse – and that gives us all the fuel we need.”

Paige Badenhorst, who goes in the single sculls, is the only other rower in the SA team for the Paris Olympics.

The rowing competition at the Games will be held between 27 July and 3 August.