Olympics-Croatia's rowing brothers hope for fourth Olympic medal in Paris

A drone view of Croatian rowers Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic during the start of rowing practice at Peruca Lake for the Paris 2024 Olympics near Sinj, Croatia, July 3, 2024. /Antonio Bronic

SINJ, Croatia - On the crystal clear waters of Peruca Lake, Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic are preparing for the Paris Olympics, where they hope to get their fourth medal for rowing.

Valent 35, and Martin, 34, won a silver medal in London in 2012 in the quad, a gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the double sculls event and a gold in Tokyo in 2020 when they changed to sweep rowing.

"This is our fourth Olympic Games and we won three Olympic medals so far. We expect probably the toughest Olympics for us so far," Martin Sinkovic said.

"We will compete in the men's pair and of course we expect to be in the battle for... the gold medal."

Rowing is a popular sport in Croatia and its rowers have won medals for the team of former Yugoslavia, which the country was part of before declaring independence in 1991.

Last month, the Sinkovic brothers moved from their homes in Zagreb to the small town of Sinj, which is closer to Peruca Lake, a popular destination for camping, fishing and rowing.

"Our biggest motivation is the love of the sport. We still really like rowing, like to go to the training, like to train hard," Valent Sinkovic said.

- (Reuters)