Mahe Drysdale is about to compete at his third Olympics as a single sculler, but it will be his first without the title of World Champion. Drysdale won his last world title in 2011.
He says the frustration of just missing out last year has taught him a lot as he prepares to defend his Olympic title in Rio.
Drysdale first took his seat in the single scull in early 2005, and since then he's lost just three world championship finals.
But it's last year's race that plays on his mind the most, when he was beaten by his great rival, Ondrej Synek, by just 0.3 of a second. In his own words he just rowed poorly.
"I know how much that hurts and how much I thought about that for months afterwards, and that's a good lesson to learn because that would be worse doing that in Olympic year than world champs year."
Drysdale has encountered a few other bumps on his road to Rio. After a breakdown in the relationship between Dick Tonks and Rowing New Zealand, he had to fight to keep his coach. He then had to have surgery on his forearms for a problem called compartment syndrome.
"When I was getting to the end of a race, you're getting a lot of blood that's going in. That expands and it gets very tight in that skin then it starts cutting off feeling in your hands.
"It was 60 percent that you weren't going to be able to hold on to the oars at the end of a race. Now I'm more confident that if it comes down to a sprint, then I've still got a chance at winning it."
Despite that, the 37-year-old is considering four more years.
"To be completely honest I'm about 50/50 to continue or not. Probably I would love to; I love the sport. The one proviso is, can my body take another four years?
"I guess the reason that, which is a great thing, is my body's held up very well, and I'm producing times in training and racing as good as I've ever been."
And that's good news, as Drysdale counts down to the defence of his Olympic title in Rio.
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