Julien Bahain, Robert Micael Gibson, Will Dean, and Pascal Lussier, of Canada, react after competing in the men's quadruple sculls repechage heat during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Aug. 8, 2016.Luca Bruno/The Associated Press
Rob Gibson ran his hand through his hair and looked down sombrely before taking a deep breath.
Pain was etched on the dejected rower's face as he searched for the words to explain how four years of sweat and hard work had just ended in bitter disappointment.
Gibson and his Canadian crew needed a top-two performance in the men's quadruple sculls repechage to make the Olympic final, but instead can finish no better than seventh in the consolation round following Monday's stunning fifth-place showing that left them staring off in the distance on the dock at Lagoa Stadium.
"We just beat ourselves," said Gibson, a 30-year-old from Kingston, Ont. "We just tried too hard. We started pulling apart from each other and in a boat and a crew like this we've really got to be one unit."
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Gibson, Will Dean of Kelowna, B.C., Pascal Lussier of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., and French-born Julien Bahain finished in five minutes 56.28 seconds as competition resumed after high winds and turbulent water nixed all of Sunday's schedule.
The result is a crushing blow for Rowing Canada and raises some serious questions about the decision to scrap the storied men's eight after the 2012 Games to focus on the quad and the four.
"You do things right for 364 days of the year and on the 365th day it doesn't go quite right and your Olympics is over," said high performance director Peter Cookson. "That's what happened with these guys. That's one of the tragedies of Olympic sport, but it's also part of sport and we accept that."
After needing a last-chance qualifier to make it to Brazil, the quad stumbled during Saturday's heats when Gibson lost the handle on one of his oars in windy conditions. Looking to regroup Monday, Canada had a decent start, but faded in the middle portion and couldn't close the gap in the final 500 metres, ending up nearly five seconds back of the first-place Germans.
"We came to Rio expecting to podium, if not to win," said Gibson. "This is not the way we envisioned the outcome."
Canada's men's eight won Olympic gold in 1984, 1992 and 2008, as well as silver four years ago, but Rowing Canada stunned many observers by shelving the boat with the aim of doubling the men's chances at a medal and the subsequent funding from the government-backed Own The Podium by having two crews in competition instead of one.
"For us as athletes, when the plans changed to go towards smaller boats we just accepted the challenge," said Gibson, a silver medallist in the eight in London. "Growing up we were are all university rowers ... we're used to the eight, but I think we all accepted the challenge. We're not going to point the blame at anyone else."
Now, the best the Canadian men can hope for is a podium finish from the four to equal their haul from 2012.
"Obviously we'll do a pretty significant debrief and look at our results, but the decision to go the route we did was a long-term approach to be successful," said Cookson. "If we had stayed the course we'd always be good in the eight ... but we have to start getting some success in these smaller boats.
"It's not a lost cause. It just didn't happen this particular day. We do need to evaluate it, but I still believe in my heart that it's the right decision and the right way to go, as hard as it is after seeing that."
The four did advance to Wednesday's semifinals after Kingston's Will Crothers, Kai Langerfeld of North Vancouver, B.C., Conlin McCabe of Brockville, Ont., and Tim Schrijver of Thedford, Ont., finished second in their heat.
McCabe, who also won silver in London in the eight, said the members of the four were gutted for their teammates.
"That was devastating," said the 25-year-old. "Every single one of our guys was ripped apart inside."
With the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue towering over the course at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, Monday featured a jam-packed slate of 30 combined heats and repechages following the decision to postpone Sunday's races because of blustery conditions that resulted in rough water.
That delay came after Saturday's opening heats were marred by high winds that contributed to two Serbian rowers capsizing into the polluted water.
In other races involving Canadians, Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee, the country's best hope for a medal in rowing, won their women's lightweight double sculls heat to book a place in Wednesday's semifinal.
While the conditions were considerably better than the weekend, the Victoria duo knew the wind would still be a factor.
"We were prepared to be thrown around a little and I think we handled that really well," said the 34-year-old Jennerich. "We got into rhythm a bit early, really stayed connected to the hull with our feet and just worked ourselves through that middle 1,000 confidently knowing that as long we got a good grip on the water we could do the work we needed."
Meanwhile, Canada's women's eight was last in its heat and will need to crack the top-4 of Wednesday's repechage to make the final.
The boat won silver in 2012 and was second at the 2014 world championships, but dropped down to third at the 2015 worlds and was bumped off the podium at the final World Cup tune-up in May.
Canada added 19-year-old Caileigh Filmer of Victoria after that event to shake things up, with Monday marking the first time the crew had raced together in competition.
"We've come a long way the last six weeks," said 56-year-old coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie, who is at her record-tying eighth Olympics. "We had a great year of training and then some racing that was not quite the right rhythm."