Rower Hamish Bond and cyclist Greg Henderson experienced contrasting fortunes during the opening weekend of the London Olympics.
Bond and team-mate Eric Murray underlined their gold medal favouritism in the men's pair with a stunning effort in the heat, recording a world-best time of 6min 8.5sec for the 2000m.
It was 5.77sec quicker than the previous mark set by British pair Sir Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell 10 years ago in Seville, Spain.
It was a cracking performance but Bond pointed out the pair had not won anything yet.
"When we were warming up we could tell there was a good tailwind and pretty fast conditions but you don't necessarily know exactly how fast you're going," he told APNZ.
"There are no medals for heats, though.
"We've just got to keep smacking the races out like that one and make sure nothing affects our rhythm."
Cue God Defend New Zealand now - it is in the bag.
No such luck for Henderson, though.
The former Dunedin cyclist had just completed his first Tour de France and fancied himself as an outside chance in the men's 250km road race.
But he was forced to withdraw from the race on the fifth of eight laps when his digestive system failed him miserably.
"I just had bad, bad, bad diarrhoea," he told APNZ.
"It's hard to pinpoint exactly, but with about three laps to go on the climb my stomach was really, really upset with me.
"I had to make an emergency stop in the pits.
"For me it was super-upsetting because I was on such a high with the Tour de France."
