An Australian rowing squad boasting seven Olympic champions has been announced for the Paris Games, which get underway later this month.
The Australian Olympic Committee confirmed a 37-strong team across nine boats to compete at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris.
The team features six athletes at their third Olympics, 20 heading to their second Games and 11 debutants.
The rowers celebrated their announcement at a team event in Varese, Italy, near their European Training Centre base, where athletes have been putting the final polish on their Olympic preparation.
With 23 women and 14 men, the squad features seven Olympic gold medallists from Tokyo, where the team won four medals from the nine boats competing to finish second on the medal table.
While 26 athletes return from the last Games, many are heading to Paris in a different boat.
Tokyo Olympic champions in the men’s four, Alexander Purnell, Jack Hargreaves and Spencer Turrin, will now row in the eight, while women’s four champions Anabelle McIntyre and Jessica Morrison will crew the pair.
Lucy Stephan also moves from the four to the women’s eight.
Tara Rigney will compete in the women's single scull, looking to follow in the footsteps of retired great Kim Brennan, who won gold in the event at the Rio Olympics.
A bronze medallist at the last two world championships, Rigney is considered a genuine medal contender.
The team enters Paris on a high after finishing on top of the medal tally at Rowing World Cup III in Poland earlier this month, where they claimed 11 medals out of 13 events, including six gold.
Turrin, who is competing in his third Games, said lining up in the coxless eight was a fresh challenge.
“It’s a new challenge, being in the eight, but I’m relishing it," the 32-year-old said.
"I like having a lot of different personalities around me and being part of this group that’s doing some really incredible stuff.”
Debutant Lily Triggs only made her first national team a year ago with the 25-year-old Queenslander winning a berth in the four.
“There's a lot of experience in the crew with both Molly (Goodman) and Oly (Olympia Aldersey) individually being world champions in this event," she said.
"I feel like myself and Jeano (Jean Mitchell), coming in as new athletes, also bring a lot of excitement and energy so I think we’ll be a pretty exciting combination at the Games.”
Women: Tara Rigney, Amanda Bateman, Harriet Hudson, Annabelle McIntyre, Jessica Morrison, Caitlin Cronin, Laura Gourley, Rowena Meredith, Ria Thompson, Olympia Aldersey, Lily Triggs, Molly Goodman, Jean Mitchell, Paige Barr, Bronwyn Cox, Sarah Hawe, Giorgia Patten, Georgina Rowe, Lucy Stephan, Jacqueline Swick, Hayley Verbunt.
Men: Patrick Holt, Simon Keenan, Fergus Hamilton, Alexander Hill, Tim Masters, Jack Robertson, Kendall Brodie, Ben Canham, Angus Dawson, Jack Hargreaves, Josh Hicks, Joseph O’Brien, Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin, Angus Widdicombe.
