Canberra rowers Caleb Antill and Luke Letcher eye Olympic gold at Tokyo

Fellow Canberran Caleb Antill only took up the sport at age 11 after he jumped in his mother's row team to cox.

Without their nudge towards the sport it may not have led to the pair securing their tickets to the delayed Tokyo Olympics for the Australian men's quadruple scull, where they'll team up with Jack Cleary and Olympian Cameron Girdlestone.

The pair were two of the 29 debutants chosen in Australia's 38-strong rowing team on Sunday and said there was no hiding they were out for gold in Tokyo.

Antill, 25, was selected last year for the quad event, before the Games were postponed due to the pandemic. He was the only one renamed in the 2021 team.

"It all felt pretty real last year and then the disappointment of that being taken away was a lot to deal with. I think it shows a lot of resilience from all the team members to still be here," he said.

"[The postponement was] extremely disappointing and then there were question marks over whether it would go ahead this year, so training between when we found out and kept going through winter was a really tough period for everyone. But we stuck it out and I think it says a lot about the resilience and determination of the athletes who are here."

Letcher, 27, missed out on selection last year before the postponement and took time off to regroup before setting his sights on a spot in the 2021 team.

"I took a good chunk of time off. I sort of took that opportunity to have a little bit of a physical and mental reset but personally I feel like I've come back better and stronger and more ready to not only take on any rowing challenges but ... I feel like I'm ready for whatever happens," he said.

Pre-Covid Australian rowers would compete in World Cup regattas overseas in preparation for the Olympics, but with travel restrictions and international border closures they have had to simulate races via handicaps at national meets.

Both agreed it gave them an advantage heading into the Games, as the European teams would not know what to expect from their green and gold counterparts.

"Obviously the European teams have been able to actually race each other, but I guess the idea is that we can use that to our advantage," Antill said.

"The European crews have no idea how good we are. So we can rock up and, 'Shock and oar' is what we've been saying, to surprise everyone and leave them with their jaws on the floor, hopefully.

"They see you in the green and gold and they know you're going to be a serious competitor."

Letcher echoed Antill's words about Australia's element of surprise heading into Tokyo.

"We're a completely brand new crew coming in this year, so there's no expectations on where they would expect us to be. So we've really got that opportunity ... as they have absolutely no gauge on how fast we could be," he said.

"So we really feel the opportunity to just come in and shock them. The aim, obviously, is to blow them out of the water."

Australia has qualified nine boats to compete at the Olympics.

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