Rower Ginn chasing perfect Olympic race

All rower Drew Ginn wants is to have one perfect moment.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist says that after 13 years as a professional athlete he's yet to reach the zenith of his sport.

Starting a pre-Olympic tour in Canberra with crewmate Duncan Free this week, Ginn hopes he will enjoy the perfect race in the pairs in Beijing.

"To perfect something is to do the bare essentials and streamline everything you do," he says.

"I like the idea that I can still see and feel things that need to be improved."

"It's that idea of still trying to perfect not just the rowing stroke, but the race itself."

After winning four gold, one silver and a bronze at seven world championships - the 33-year-old Victorian has earned the right to become philosophical about competing.

"You tend not to worry about the things you used to worry about when you were younger," he says.

"[There's] not so much pressure, more anticipation."

"Someone said 100 days [to the Olympics] the other day and I went `whoa', this is right on my doorstep."

"And all of a sudden you see it come into focus and we get to do what we're trained to do and what we're paid to do."

His journey to the Beijing Games has been anything but perfect.

After a stunning Olympic debut with the "Oarsome Foursome" at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Ginn suffered a career-threatening injury.

It came just after he and James Tomkins knocked the competition out of the water with their performance in the pairs at the 1999 world championships.

Ginn, then 24, injured his lower back doing squats at the gym.

Surgery soon followed to relieve the pain but Ginn missed the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

"I was able to row at different stages, but I kept breaking down," he says.

So he focused and tore into his training, leading to victory at the 2004 Athens Games.

He says the gold medal won with Tomkins that year was an emotional revenge on the injury.

"It had been eight years since James and I competed in 96."

"2004 was like the comeback, to come back and do what you enjoy doing together."

"Being smarter as an athlete I've eliminated activities that used to cause me a bit of grief."

"Now I row the way I want to row."