New approach enables Hodge to stay confident

Hebden-raised Hodge, Pete Reed, Tom James and Alex Gregory lost twice to their Australian rivals in Munich.

It continued a long and unwanted tradition of the flagship British crew losing their last race before the Olympics, a sequence that dates back to the era of Sir Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.

But in casting history aside to focus on the present, Hodge took enough positives from what proved a useful World Cup outing to render the result irrelevant.

“We tried a few things out, we learned a lot about racing them and about our own tactics,” said Hodge.

“We tried something different between the semi and the final, which definitely showed us a different avenue to chase, so we’re very excited about developing that.”

Hodge and the biggest British rowing team to compete at an Olympics head to the Austrian Alps on Friday for a two-week, high-altitude training camp.

“It’s an all-out camp and it’s one of my favourite places because there’s no hiding place,” said the 33-year-old. “It’s a working camp in every sense of the word. You put your body through hell.

“If you don’t go hard enough you get a rollocking from (coach) Jurgen (Grobler).”

Hodge was speaking at Team GB’s Loughborough base, where the athletes were beginning their pre-Games kitting out procedure.

“My first experience of a kit day was before Athens when we were in a warehouse and some guy was behind a wall throwing kit over to us,” he added. “If it didn’t fit, you threw it back. It’s now become a fantastic day, but for me, I just want to get back to training.”