Emma Twigg, the 37-year-old New Zealander, should be recognised for her contributions to the most gruelling of all sports, writes 1News digital sport reporter Patrick McKendry.

Most of us watching New Zealander Emma Twigg row to an Olympic silver medal in the single sculls rowing event in Paris last night from the comfort of our couches will never know what it takes to finish such a race.

I don’t. But there are a few lines in The Boys In The Boat, an extraordinary book and movie detailing the true story of the United States’ men’s eight who shocked the world and Adolf Hitler by rowing to glory at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin which may give us an idea.

The author, Daniel James Brown, describes the sport as “an undertaking of extraordinary beauty preceded by brutal punishment”.

Virtually every muscle in the body is used – the biggest ones for power and the smallest for finesse and constant adjustment, and this applies whether the rower is a sculler – using two oars like the 37-year-old Twigg – or a sweeper (one oar).

“The result of all this muscular effort, on both the larger scale and the smaller, is that your body burns calories and oxygen at a rate that is unmatched in almost any human endeavour,” Brown writes.

“Physiologists, in fact, have calculated that rowing a 2,000m race – the Olympic standard – takes the same physiological toll as playing two basketball games back-to-back. And it exacts that toll in about six minutes.

“The consequence is that the muscles often begin to scream in agony almost from the outset of a race and continue screaming until the very end.”

Brown wraps things up by saying: “Perhaps the most fundamental thing that all novice oarsmen and oarswomen must learn about competitive rowing in the upper echelons of the sport is that pain is part and parcel of the deal.”

What rowing at the top level boils down to is this: sprinting off the start line and sprinting some more at the finish. The middle part of the race often requires more sprinting to consolidate your boat’s position.

It is one of the most gruelling of all sports and Twigg’s achievement should be put into the context of her age and longevity. This is her fifth Olympics after she won gold in the same event in Tokyo. She is also a former world champion.

Dutchwoman Karolien Florijn, who beat Twigg for gold last night, is 26. At the finish line, Florijn appeared to mouth the words “oh my God!”. It seemed appropriate for many reasons. Florijn won silver behind Twigg in Tokyo.

New Zealand has won four medals at this Olympic regatta. Two other Kiwi mums, Lucy Spoors and Brooke Francis, stormed to gold in the double sculls, and Phoebe Spoors, Kerri Williams, Davina Waddy and Jackie Gowler rowed to bronze in the coxless four.

The men’s coxless four of Logan Ullrich, Ollie Maclean, Matt Macdonald and Tom Murray took silver in their race.

But like any event at the Olympics, the spectre of failure is an ever-present on the water.

One of the more extraordinary finishes at the regatta came in the men’s double sculls semifinal when the Serbian crew appeared set to finish third and qualify their boat in an A final for the first time in their country’s history. However, with the finish line only metres away, Serbian stroke Nikolaj Pimenov all but collapsed with exhaustion.

It was distressing (and compelling) viewing. A specialist rowing website gave this rather prosaic description: “It was gut-buster of a race in which the Serbian stroke-man, Nikolaj Pimenov, sculled himself to a standstill two strokes before the finish line allowing Romania through for third.”

Faster, higher, stronger. This Olympics, and this regatta, has once again reminded us of the suffering some of us are prepared to go through for sporting glory.

A final thought on the now completed regatta: The two commentators for the world broadcast feed, Englishmen Martin Cross and Greg Searle, are as good as any at this Olympics.

Their double act is consistently entertaining and informative, with Cross a constant source of anecdotes.

Did you know that the father of the Dutch single sculler Florijn (who beat Twigg) is unable to watch his daughter row live – either in person or on television? Another rower’s dad turns his phone off so he isn’t disturbed while watching his daughter row.

Cross also recounted the night he had dinner in Paris and was served by a waiter who rowed for Algeria.

One of the rowers in the Canada women’s eight, Jessica Sevick, suffered a traumatic brain injury while on a luge run as a 12-year-old which still affects her balance. She won a silver medal last night.

Another nugget of information was revealing that Emma Twigg – “Twiggy” as he calls her – recorded a personal best on the 2km erg (rowing machine) this year – 6 minutes 26 seconds – a phenomenal time.

A gold medal to both Cross and Searle.