ATHENS -- There's no wait till next year at the Olympics.

'Wait till four years from now' just doesn't compute, even if you've spent the last two as world champions.

When you don't lose a race in two years and then get to the Olympics and finish fifth, what do you do? With a gold medal around your neck, it's easy to walk away.

EXPENSIVE EXERCISE

"My friends have registered retirement saving plans. That's not something I've been able to do," said Canadian rowing captain Andrew Hoskins of Edmonton.

"I'll probably be paying for this when I'm 72. There's no way my wife and I can get a house and a mortgage any time soon. If I go on with this, it's going to be selfish.

"I'm going to have to talk to my wife about this," he said.

"When you have your wedding one day and go to rowing practice the next day The shock of finishing fifth when there were expectations of gold had those sort of thoughts going, not only through the boat of the men's eight but among the lightweight four who also finished fifth.

EAT, ROW, SLEEP

"I can't say enough about the hard work and sacrifice we have to do for this, what it's like to train as hard as we do," said Jonathan Mandick.

"I mean, all I do is eat, row and sleep. I can't go to school. My life is on hold. I don't see my friends. I can't go out on weekends. I'm too tired."

There's also another thing to think about, says Hoskins: The Canadian media.

He makes the valid point that the rowers, and a significant number of Canadian Olympians, are ignored for four years and then suddenly show up at an Olympics and ...

"It's a raw deal. Canada is only interested two weeks every four years."