MOE Sbihi and the men’s four will be chomping at the bit to get out to Brazilian waters and turn confidence into success, according to two-time Olympic silver medallist Debbie Flood.

A long four years of hard work and dedication is almost over for Sbihi as he looks to help Great Britain successfully defend the men’s four gold medal won at London 2012.

It is a new look crew compared to four years ago though with Alex Gregory the only survivor and Sbihi, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis his new teammates.

Sbihi was also a medallist at London 2012, winning bronze in the men’s eight while during the last 12 months he has won World gold as part of the men’s eight and European gold with the men’s four.

And Flood believes it is a measure of Sbihi’s standing in the eyes of head coach Jurgen Grobler that he has been named to help lead the successful defence of the men’s four Olympic title.

“It’s the lead men’s boat, it’s been going really well this season even when they had a sub in,” said Flood, speaking at the first ever Invesco Perpetual City Rowing Regatta held in Edinburgh.

“They’ve got real confidence and Jurgen instills that in them too. They will be aiming high and they won’t have any doubts in their minds. They will be training hard and looking to get out there and racing.

“Our men’s sweep and sculling group are such a strong group of guys just in the whole aspect of medalling and their belief and confidence.

“Jurgen will deem which group of guys has the most potential for that gold medaland it’s often the four. , but the depth after that is extremely strong.”

At London 2012, British crews picked up four gold medals and nine podium finishes in total.

Despite no longer holding home advantage, hopes are high for further success on Brazilian waters although Flood admitted the next few weeks of training are crucial when it comes to getting the edge on their opponents.

“It depends on how late the crews were selected,” she added. “The world is going to keep moving on in these 40 days so even if they have had a successful World Cup season, you can never be complacent.

“You are always looking to tweak things, to be smoother together, to work on your technique.

“It’s about fractions of a second, medals can be won or lost by a fraction of a second.

“Each day will count and always does, both in your team building and your technical and strength work.

“Our rowing team is still of such good quality. We’ve got really good results this year, they’ll be looking to Rio to get medals.

“The men’s team has been strong, the women’s team has had a few changes in the boats but they are strong and will also be going there looking to punch for medals.”

* Invesco Perpetual’s innovative new ‘City Regatta’ event is a celebration of the achievements of Leander Club, the main feeder club to the GB team with 22 of its rowers headed for Rio, and aims to encourage more people across the UK to get involved in rowing.