As his first boat bobbed lightly at the start in what could be the South African rowing team’s first Rio Olympics medal, coach Roger Barrow could not force himself to watch the men’s pair final.
It was only after they moved out of fourth position that Barrow found the courage to watch Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain clinch the silver medal.
It appeared fourth place was not that appealing to the boys and Barrow’s mortal fear of them finishing outside the medals was unjustified.
Barrow hates losing but when it is within a whisker, like having a sniff without a taste, that is what eats at the architect of South African rowing’s success.
“I didn’t watch the race, I sort of walked in, had a look at the TV and then I went to watch the last 100 metres when AJ (Grant, assistant coach) told me we were winning silver,” Barrow admitted.
“I’m just too nervous, I found yesterday and today more nervous than usual. I’ve always had this fear of us getting fourths in the finals?
“Stuff the silver - we’ve come for the gold!” legendary Aussie swimming coach Laurie Lawrence famously said.
But this week, silver was as good as gold for Cameron van der Burgh, Chad le Clos and the men’s coxless pair.
“To get a lot of fourths would really suck but a silver and not a bronze, I couldn’t be happier,” Barrow said proudly.
It is that fear of finishing fourth that powered Brittain and Keeling to their silver medal as they have tasted the bitter disappointment of finishing fourth and missing silverware by the narrowest of margins. Losing out on the silver medal at the last regatta before the Olympics in Lucerne by five hundredths of a second became their motivation.
They were pipped to the finish by the British and Dutch crews to leave the South Africans languishing in fourth place.
As they went through the 500-metre mark, Brittain shouted at his crew mate: “Shaun, point two, never again!”
That had become their battle cry in training and spurred them on when they had to row out of the “deepest, darkest corner”.
Van der Burgh conceded his Olympic crown to Britain’s Adam Peaty in the 100m breaststroke, winning silver instead, but he wore the same smile as when he earned his gold in London 2012.
“Winning a medal is something tangible, it is something you can hold, and that represents the struggles you went through, the sacrifices, and also the victories,” Van der Burgh said about the significance of his silver medal.
“It is a representation of another four years in the bag.
“It had been fruitful and I’m so proud I can add that to my tally now.”
Le Clos demonstrated how unpredictable the Olympics can be and that there is no such thing as a guaranteed medal, no matter your pedigree.
He produced two polar opposite performances on consecutive evenings, first winning the 200m freestyle silver medal before finishing fourth in the 200 butterfly.
“A silver medal to me is like a gold medal in the 200m free. I always race to win; silver is great but if we do the race over, I would have loved to have won it, but next year we will win it,” Le Clos said.
The following night, the defending champion battled to find that extra gear as he touched in fourth position, leaving him dejected.
On the night, Le Clos would have settled for bronze or even silver, never mind gold. Stuff the gold, any medal will do.
* De Villiers is in Rio covering the Games for Independent Media
Saturday Star