Sydney: Australian rower Drew Ginn has overcome career-threatening injury in his bid for a fourth Olympic gold medal in London next year and is not ready to rule out continuing for a crack at a fifth Games in Brazil in 2016.
The 36-year-old won his first title as the junior member of Australia's "Oarsome Foursome" at the 1996 Atlanta Games before missing the Sydney Games because of a compressed disc and then winning back-to-back coxless pairs golds in Athens and Beijing.
It will be back to the coxless fours for London, where victory would make him Australia's most successful Olympic oarsman ahead of former teammate James Tomkins — and leave him just one gold behind Briton Steve Redgrave's tally.
"That's not lost on me but it's not something I focus on," Ginn said. "I think for me, I look at guys like Sir Steve Redgrave, and I look at guys like James Tomkins, and the various people that have done amazing things in the sport over long periods of time and I feel like I'm just a kid."
Another Olympics seemed highly unlikely after Beijing, where a debilitating back injury left Ginn barely able to walk let alone row in the run-up to his triumph with partner Duncan Free.
Cycling success
After a second back operation, Ginn took up cycling to test his fitness and rode away with a gold at the Oceania cycling championships.
His passion was always for rowing, however, and now a fifth Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 may not be beyond him.
