Thinking of the friendships made with friends and foes over his long, illustrious rowing career has got the better of Mahe Drysdale during an interview this morning.
A day after confirming his retirement, the Olympic champion told Breakfast a social media post from his Norwegian rival Olaf Tufte bought tears to his eyes.
Tufte called Drysdale “one of my biggest rivals, one of my best friends, one of my role model” in an Instagram post.
The Norwegian also recalled crying, standing on podiums, and even the fights he’d had with Drysdale.
“Just thinking about all the challenges we’ve had, the battles we’ve had over the years,” Drysdale said tearily.
“It’s really special.”
It had been a special time of reflection since coming to terms with retirement, Drysdale said.
“That’s been really nice over the last few days, reflecting back on that and thinking about all the memories, the friends that I’ve made, the experiences that I’ve had,” he said.
“I’m just so fortunate to be able to do this for so long and have so much success along the way with so many people helping me do that.”
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