Rio 2016 Olympics - Hearing a defending Olympic champion admit he's got things wrong in the buildup to the Rio Games wouldn't necessaritly inspire confidence and indicate another gold medal is in the offing.
Photo: Photosport
However single sculls champion Mahe Drysdale is in a confident frame of mind, despite losing to Belgium's Hannes Obreno at July's Henley rowing regatta.
Drysdale isn't dwelling on the resultt.
"I got what I needed out of Henley, not what I wanted,' he said just a couple of days out from his opening race in Rio.
"There were a number of things that all built up to it....obviously that's a heavy training block for us and I over-estimated my ability to recover so I was a little bit flat in the final."
"That's something I am not worried about here (in Rio) because I will be coming in fresh as this is our pinnacle event for the year," said Drysdale.
Drysdale is also confident the eleven New Zealand crews competing in Rio can handle themselves should things cut up rough.
He's not talking in the fisticuffs sense but rather if conditions at the Lagoa lake are rough.
Drysdale says the breezy condition can make things "lively".
"That's something we are prepared for... and we train at Lake Karapiro in all sorts of weather and we should be able to adapt to the rough (conditions)," he said.