The New Zealand Rowing team had one of it's best Olympic ever in Beijing, but there was still a fair measure of disappointment.

Their contributed one gold, two bronzes and two more top-six finishes but probably underachieved in terms of public expectations and their own private hopes.

It shows just what a professional culture Rowing New Zealand has established and also how far expectations have come.

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Women's pair finish fifth

Mixed results for Kiwi rowers

Lightweight scullers miss out

Drysdale gives his heart and soul

Bronze for ailing Mahe

In 1988, when Eric Verdonk took bronze in the single sculls,it was seen as a massive achievement. Twenty years on, Mahe Drysdale in third place was viewed as a huge let down - though outside circumstances were the main contributing factor.

The Evers Swindell twins gold was simply miraculous - both in the terms of the .01 final margin and the fact that they were even in contention - given they had seemed off the pace for the last couple of seasons and endured a horrible pre-Olympic regatta in Europe.

Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater were disappointed to settle for bronze, but in time will take great satisfaction, especially given the quality of the Australian and Canadian crews.

The double sculls crew of Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen were perceived as a certainty for the podium and a probable gold. So fourth was a bitter pill to swallow. But Waddell had warned that the European crews would save their best for the Olympics - and so it proved.

The New Zealanders had looked good in the heat but struggled in their semi and couldn't find a finishing burst in the final.

The women's pair of Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh finished a meritious fifth in their second consecutive Olympic final. Nobody in that event could get close to the Belarus crew.

Women's single sculler Emma Twigg showed considerable promise - missing out on the final by just .05 of a second - and is one for the future. Storm Uru and Peter Taylor in the men's lightweight double seemed to cope well with the the pressure of an Olympics and were probably never realistic contenders for the final but will be there in London.

The biggest disappointment was the men's coxless four. They went from world champions in 2007 to the 'B' final in Beijing. Crew member Carl Meyer admitted to being as mystified as anyone as to how and why their boat was not going as fast as it had.

Indeed one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the whole Olympics was seeing an absolutely shattered Meyer face up to the media after the semi-final. "Sorry for letting the whole country down" he said disconsolately as he wandered off after the interviews.