There have been a few bumps in the road for Eric Murray as he prepares to defend his Olympic rowing title with partner Hamish Bond.

Four days before the rowing regatta gets underway and Murray looks fit and well, until you see his hands, which are battered and bruised after falling off his bike.

"Just one of these things out training, slid along the road, but I'm fine. Just a few bumps and bruises and a bit of road rash," Murray said.

It's not the first time it's happened to a rower in the build-up to the Olympics, Mahe Drysdale did the same ahead of the London 2012 Games.

"I'm not a Mahe Drysdale, I'd like to think of myself a little bit more like the Pinetree [Colin] Meads of rowing.

"What was it the 70 tour of South Africa, he broke his arm and just went on and played? That's me, I just got back on my bike and kept going."

The other half of the golden pair, Hamish Bond, wasn't at the rowing media conference after having to make a quick trip to the physio.

"He goes to physio every day. He's like an eggshell, you just want to keep it looking really good and you don’t want it to crack too much," Murray joked.

It's hard to imagine Bond and Murray not maintaining their unbeaten streak and winning gold here in Rio.

But there could be some delays along the way.

While there's been a lot of publicity about the poor water quality, that's not the only water related issue according to fellow rower Mahe Drysdale.

"When the wind blows from the side you just get more waves coming through and it can be quite rough i think it’s quite shallow as well which compounds the problem," said Drysdale.

"We've been here eight days, we've had two days where the course has been closed off for at least half a day. I think we're definitely prepared for delays."

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