By Jessica Halloran
SALLY ROBBINS'S former crew is on target for Olympic gold in Beijing - and has forged a bond that is tighter than ever before.
Four years on from the disastrous "Lay down Sally" episode at the Athens Games, the Australian women's eight won gold at the world cup meeting in Munich on Sunday.
Crew member Elizabeth Kell said the new-look team possessed a "special" quality, and that there was unity and harmony within the eight.
"This group, there's something pretty special about it," Kell said. "It's a very positive team environment. I think it's, at times, not very normal for a huge group of girls to get on so well - but we are having so much fun.
"We were talking about this yesterday; every time the other teams looked over to us at the rowing sheds, we were always out the front together, laughing, having a good time.
"I mean, people are always going to have their differences, but we all get along really well. It's really great."
The Australian women crossed the line in first place, smashing the second-placed Chinese by two boat lengths - almost seven seconds - showing they will be a force to be reckoned with at the Olympics in August.
Their toughest opponents, world champions the United States, were missing from the regatta but are expected at the next world cup meeting in Switzerland later this month.
The Australian men's eight also took gold, making it the first time both crews have come first in a world cup event.
The women's display in Germany was in stark contrast to that in Athens, when Robbins stopped rowing short of the finish line and the team finished out of the medals.
Kell, who has represented Australia since 2000 and is making her debut in the eight for Beijing, said there was no hangover from the Robbins incident. She said the team, which is based at the AIS in Canberra and coached by Lyall McCarthy, had become a strong, close unit.
"There's been absolutely nothing said [about Robbins's collapse]," Kell said. "Our group, we work together to make the best of it … we are going to keep on flogging away in our bid for gold."
Captain Sarah Tait, the only remaining member from the Athens crew, said the team had been forced to change its race plan after a slow start.
China led Australia by just under a second at the halfway mark, but the Australians powered back over the last 750 metres to cross the line in six minutes, 36.29 seconds. Romania took the bronze.
"We got caught in a bit of dirty water at the start of the race which put us further back than we wanted," Tait said.
"We wanted to build a lead from the start but we changed our plan, which shows the great versatility of the group."
The Australian men led from start to finish to win in 6:05.38, just under a second quicker than Great Britain, with China taking bronze. They led by a boat length just a quarter of the way into the race and fought off sustained challenges from the British and Chinese to win by just under a half a boat length.
The stroke of the Australian crew, Stephan Stewart, said the team wouldn't get too carried away by the victory.
"We got out to a great lead but hit some messy water in the second 1000m, so just consolidated our position and then pushed when the others started coming back at us," Stewart said. "It is great to win the gold but it is only the first step so we won't get too carried away with this one."
Both Australian crews will now enter a two-week training camp in Italy before competing in Switzerland.