Rocky row: is a river 600km north of Brisbane really the best place to host an Olympic event?

Drew Ginn (L) and James Tomkins after winning the Men's Pair final at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Both rowers are critical of the plan to hold rowing and canoeing events on Rockhampton’s Fitzroy River. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images

Labelling the likes of Drew Ginn and James Tomkins “elites” is a curious form of criticism, Gary Merritt says.

Both were members of the “Oarsome Foursome” – a crew who so dominated world rowing throughout the 1990s and 2000s that the team’s nickname transcended the sport and entered everyday Australian parlance.