Yet the 28-year-old could just as easily been wearing an Australian rowing singlet having grown up juggling the two sports in Canberra. “I was quite ambitious in rowing, I really loved it, I represented the state at the Youth Olympics in Australia,” Champion de Crespigny said. “I always say rowing sets the foundations of your life, you get out what you put in. Rowing is a pretty easy formula: if you train hard you will eventually succeed. “At school I was balanced rugby and rowing – early mornings, late nights, training and then going home to complete my studies, and it ingrained a work ethic where you just have to dig in. Rowing shows what you are made of. It’s a pretty tough two kilometres, your true colours really come out.”