Australian rowers aim to be Oarsome again

Australia see Great Britain and Italy as their major rivals as they bid to reclaim the Oarsome Foursome tag in the men's four Olympic rowing event in Rio.

The nickname stuck after the Australian crew won gold in 1992 in Barcelona and then backed it up in Atlanta four years later.

But since 2000 Great Britain have had a stranglehold on the event, winning gold at each Olympics, with Australia forced to settle for silver at the past two.

Australia have had two crew changes since London, with Joshua Booth and Alex Hill joining Will Lockwood and Joshua Dunkley-Smith in the boat.

Coach Chris O'Brien said the four were tracking well as they hit the water at Lagoa Rodrigo de Freita.

"They've had a good block of training and some good racing in Europe, with a silver and bronze in the last World Cup events," O'Brien said.

"We think that things have moved on but you just don't know whether the opposition have moved on."

Australia have only been beaten by Great Britain and reigning world champions Italy this year and could have snared a confidence-boosting win over the Brits in the World Cup in Lucerne but for Dunkley-Smith "catching a crab", with his oar stuck in the water as they surged to the line.

O'Brien said the team would have won without the embarrassing mishap but that was part of racing.

"It's a matter delivering the performance on the day and on that day we didn't deliver a full race.

"Someone's two per cent up and someone's two per cent down, you just don't know who that will be."

Hill is the only of the crew who is an Olympic debutant, with Booth competing in the men's eight in London.

Hill, 23, will stroke the boat in Rio with Dunkley-Smith moving to number two.

O'Brien said the idea was to harness Dunkley-Smith's grunt.

"It's good to be able to put Josh back in the boat and have someone else stroke the boat as Josh is one of the most powerful rowers in the world in terms of horse power so it's good to be able to get him back and just work rather than setting a rhythm and steering the boat," he said.