- World Rowing

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DRYSDALE Mahe, ANDRUNACHE Georgeta, SUSANU Viorica, WU You, GAO Yulan,
BICHYK Yuliya, HELAKH Natallia, GINN Drew, FREE Duncan, CALDER David,
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LAVERICK Elise, BEBINGTON Anna, CRAWSHAY David, BRENNAN Scott,
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JAMES Tom, WILLIAMS Steve, REED Pete, TRIGGS HODGE Andrew, RYAN Matt,
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Issue 7 – December 2008
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In this issue
Eight years on – being Sir Steve Double or nothing
The Great Dane
can you foretell the finish?
Paralympic Champions
Games Paralympic rowing success
Understanding Olaf
and developing countries
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O DR AS YRNES Andre na ke,
an RAB en, B TALLARD Tomw, WE Dum T
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GE E Ale COT T Acer, HO UCY ZE
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EDITORIAL3
4
Calm energy – Michelle Guerette 6
8
Meet the 2008 OLYMPIC Champions 10
14
Assessing their Beijing
performance16
Predicting Beijing results:
18
ROWING’S ANSWER
TO MICHAEL PHELPS
20
The aging Olympian debate
22
The Olympic Fan Experience
25
In your words...
27
Meet the 2008
29
Storming into the Paralympic
30
Great Britain’s
Tom Aggar – Paralympic Champion32
31
The Olympic Games
33
35
OUR HEROES
www.tempo-tech.com
© FISA
2008
Editorial
before and beyond
the Olympics
2008 was a year of firsts: the first time 100 nations took part in the Olympic
qualification process, the first time a world-class rowing regatta was held in China,
the first time China won an Olympic gold medal in rowing and the first time rowing
crowned Paralympic Champions.
But 2008 also saw repeat performances, with
our rowing greats winning their second, third,
fourth or even fifth Olympic gold medals.
Increasingly, our heroes are staying at their
peak longer than those in past years and
decades. Although our sport does not allow
rowers to win as many Olympic medals as in
other sports at the Games, such as Michael
Phelps in swimming, rowing can boast
exceptional athletes who keep on winning
again and again over years and years of
competition.
Supporter circles around the world have found
new ways to cheer their sporting heroes on.
Whether through television or telephone or
newer means of communication such as live
video streaming or online social networks,
rowing enthusiasts have provided support
and motivation to the athletes they admire,
encouraging them to achieve their bests.
Some nations left Beijing delighted with their
rowing performance, while others left hoping
to have achieved more. This is competition.
Many challenges still remain in the area of
rowing development worldwide, but overall,
our sport has developed at the Olympic
level in a larger number of countries than
ever before and, as you will read from Thor
Nilsen, the technical level is higher. Rowing
Federations are now once again making their
plans and checking them twice, this time
with their focus set on London’s 2012.
3
Jean-Christophe Rolland (FRA)
Our heroes are those Olympians and coaches
who have committed themselves entirely to
their Olympic dreams – the dreams of going
faster, but also the dreams of competing for
the simple joy of it, whether winning a medal,
reaching the podium or just getting there.
As Pierre de Coubertin said: “The important
thing in life is not victory but combat; it is not
to have vanquished but to have fought well.”
This issue of World Rowing e-Magazine is
dedicated to those who had the dreams and
did everything possible to achieve them.
Jean-Christophe Rolland
Chair of FISA’s Athletes Commission
Heroes of the past
Steve Redgrave of Great Britain
with his five Olympic gold
medals.
Eight years on
– being Sir Steve
British Olympic Champion
Steve Redgrave celebrates
winning his third Olympic gold
medal at the 1992 Olympic
Games in Banyoles, Spain.
The name is synonymous with rowing. No other rower has come close to his
celebrity status. He is a brand himself. He is Sir Steve Redgrave.
In a sport that shies away from big names
and big personalities, Redgrave is unique. His
status is well-deserved. During Redgrave’s
rowing career he not only picked up nine
World Championship titles, but his run of
five consecutive Olympic gold medals is a
feat that has been achieved by less than a
handful of athletes in the entire history of the
Olympic Games.
The fifth Olympic gold medal is now
eight years in the past and since then
Sir Steve Redgrave has not slowed down.
He has fundraised £5 million (7.8 USD) in
five years for charity. He has mentored
athletes not just from rowing, but from a
number of different sports. He regularly gets
asked by political parties for advice on top
level sports. He has three marathons under
his belt and a knighthood before his name.
He has his own line of casual clothing (FiveG)
and a brand of drink (The Juice Doctor). He
knows his golf and knows how to motivate
company employees. He is a personality,
a celebrity.
Redgrave stepped out of the rowing boat on
the 23rd of September 2000 and did not put
a foot back in for over a year. It took a beercharged evening and the much younger
Olympic Champion Ben Hunt-Davis to talk
Redgrave back into a boat. The two, both
retired, started going out in a pair together –
rowing at a time that they knew they would
not be spotted by the national team – but
Redgrave soon persuaded Hunt-Davis to
skip the rowing and instead enjoy a social
barbecue.
A five-year rowing hiatus followed. Then
Martin Cross came knocking. Redgrave had
won his first Olympic gold in a four with Cross
at the 1984 Olympics. Cross was putting
together a crew for the Henley Veteran
Regatta. “He caught me at a weak moment,”
>>
says Redgrave.
© CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images
© 2008 Shaun Botterill/Allsport/Getty Images
4
Heroes of the past
says there was already talk of Cracknell and
Pinsent returning to a four. Redgrave admits,
“I seriously thought about giving it a go.”
Redgrave was serious enough that he talked
it over with his former coach and Great
Britain’s current head coach, Juergen Grobler.
“We both decided it wasn’t a wise thing to
do. This is the only time that I have had any
inclination to come out of retirement.”
© 2002 Getty Images/Christopher Lee
Retirement, says Redgrave, did not come
easily. He had spent 25-plus years solely
rowing and earning close to no money.
Redgrave had to start his post-rowing
career from scratch and he says he started
off with a vague idea of finding some kind
of business. But instead, the work came to
him and it came thick and fast. Redgrave was
in huge demand as a motivational speaker,
especially by companies wanting to inspire
their employees. He also got asked to do
media work and had a biography nearing
completion.
Sir Steve Redgrave posing
beside a sculpture of himself
at the River and Rowing
Museum in Henley-on-Thames,
Great Britain.
Only once has Redgrave had a twinge to come
out of retirement. It happened in 2003 after
his former teammates James Cracknell and
Matthew Pinsent came fourth in the men’s pair
at the World Rowing Championships. Within
10 minutes of the race finishing, Redgrave
“For the first 18 months following Sydney I
was very busy,” says Redgrave. He still finds it
hard to really describe what kind of business
he does. “I guess you’d call me a personality,
a celebrity of some sorts.” Eight years on, the
work continues to flow in.
Looking back Redgrave talks about the
double-edged sword of being an athlete.
Retiring meant having some flexibility with
his time. As an athlete Redgrave never took
a break from the sport. He was given three
weeks every year after the World Rowing
Championships or Olympic Games. Now,
Redgrave says, he can enjoy some flexibility
around his work and when he chooses to
take time off. But Redgrave says he misses
the routine of his former life. “The grass isn’t
always greener on the other side,” he admits.
In retrospect Redgrave concludes that it
takes about four years to get rowing out
of your system. Redgrave reflected on this
as he attended the Beijing Olympics as a
rowing expert and media specialist. It was
his second Olympics that he had attended
as a non-competitor. “I was with Matthew
(Pinsent) and I said, ‘Now you know what it
feels like four years on’.” Pinsent, a four-time
Olympic gold medallist, was going through
the feelings that come with being at his first
Olympics as a non-competitor. “You need
four years to get it out of your system,” says
Redgrave. “Eight years on you definitely have
closure.”
■ M. S. B.
5
Top Rowers
Calm energy – Michelle Guerette
Michelle Guerette on the banks of
the Charles River in Boston, USA.
© Igor Meijer
6
On the Shunyi Olympic regatta course
at the 2008 Beijing Olympics,
Michelle Guerette of the United States
had come out of the starting blocks in
the women’s single sculls Final near the
back of the field. She was not a
favourite to win, perhaps not even to
medal, and going through the half-way
point in fifth position certainly put
doubt on her podium chances.
“At that point,” Guerette describes, “things
began to change. I felt so much emotion in
the last 500m – Charley [coach Charley Butt]
and I had talked about sprinting all year. I was
confident that I could push into third [position].
When second came, I thought to first. That was
almost alarming - to know it was within reach.
I kept trying to add more but, of course, at that
point it was also a battle to hold on.”
Guerette crossed the line to become the first
American woman to medal in this event at
the Olympics in two decades. She had won
silver, finishing just half a second behind
winner, Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria.
“Just before Michelle got onto the water
for the Final,” says Butt, “I pinned a note into
her boat near her feet.” The note reminded
Guerette of her training partners, local rowers
from Guerette’s club in Boston, Aleks Zosuls
and Adam Holland. Zosuls had pushed
Guerette in the longer, 10-minute pieces and
Holland had worked Guerette in the sprint
and race training.
“She’s very competitive and I wanted Michelle
to think about rowing on a normal day,” says
Butt, “not about the big Olympians in the next
lane. The idea was to focus her in a different
kind of way.”
Butt came to be Guerette’s coach after
watching her scull and noting her speed
and strength especially at lower ratings.
After Guerette returned from the Athens
Olympics, where she had raced in the quad,
Butt approached her. “I asked if I could work
with her,” says Butt, who had been coaching
the lightweight men’s double and men’s pair
at the Athens Olympics.
Butt knows that single scullers can be unique
individuals and he describes Guerette as: “As
well collected as anyone I’ve met before a race.
She achieves degrees of calm on her own.”
Guerette started out her sporting life playing
tennis. At university, in 1998, she picked up
rowing as a way to meet new people and get a
bit of exercise. From early on Guerette showed
talent. “I realised my potential as a rower when
it came to erg tests. I had good scores from the
beginning though I was not very aerobically fit,”
says Guerette. She made the under-23 national
team two years later and has been on the US
>>
national team ever since.
Top Rowers
Michelle Guerette
(USA)
Like all American university rowers, sweep
rowing was de rigueur and Guerette was
part of the large squad of sweep rowers
competing to be in the Olympic eight. At the
end of 2003 she was moved to a quad sculling
group. “Sculling was much more comfortable
for me than sweeping. I did, however, have
mixed feelings because I knew there was not
much time to make the change, but I also was
aware it was a better match.” Guerette made
the cut and raced at the Athens Olympics in
the women’s quad, finishing fifth.
has watched Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski
(GER) race to gold in Athens more times than
she can count. She admires Mahe Drysdale’s
(NZL) consistency and professionalism as a
competitor, citing his 2006 World Champion
performance as tremendous. Americans
Steve Tucker and team-mate Caryn Davies
also have gained Guerette’s admiration.
After Athens, Guerette started rowing the
single out of necessity. “I was working fulltime and the single was a good way to
continue training on my own. It was for fun
at first but as the year progressed I did get
curious about the possibility of racing it
internationally.”
crowd closing in and the
Just a short year later Guerette lined up at the
Gifu 2005 World Rowing Championships in
the single. She finished third. “It was surprising,”
says Guerette. “I hadn’t raced internationally
that year until the Worlds. The few months
before Gifu were a very big push and I was
nervous. I was realistic, but hopeful as well.”
© Igor Meijer
With her new-found skill in the single Guerette
looked to other rowers for inspiration. She
“The race was a tunnel,
with the noise of the
finish line approaching.”
– Michelle Guerette,
16 August 2008
With Charley Butt as her coach, Guerette says
the lead up to Beijing was quite different
from her pre-Athens preparation. “After
Athens, I felt that more mastery on my part
would have helped us. I was strong and fit
but, in retrospect, not skilled or comfortable
enough. Beijing was different. I felt like I had
the opportunity to make my rowing fast
and controlled. The training over the past
four years has been different - certainly my
concept of volume has changed. I remember
when 12km felt like a long row.”
The post-Beijing reception back in the United
States was more than Guerette expected.
“Everyone was curious about the Games
and China. Our team made several television
appearances. We were even on the Oprah
Winfrey Show. But the nicest was returning
to my hometown. My family, most of whom
did not travel to Beijing, were so excited, or
maybe they just wanted to know if I’d met
Michael Phelps.”
Guerette is suitably reserved about her future
rowing intentions. “I remember reading about
Sir Steve Redgrave having retired multiple
times. That makes sense to me. I think you
need to step away for a little while if you want
to have passion for the next round.” Guerette
is also aware that sculling in the USA is going
to continue to improve especially now that
all national team rowers are expected to
learn to scull.
But Guerette owns up: “I know it would be
very hard to watch everyone line up at the
Worlds from my computer screen.”
■ M. S. B.
7
Top Rowers
Double or nothing
8
In the aftermath of Athens, Scott Brennan
wrote a note to himself. Next time would be
different. For himself and double sculls
partner David Crawshay, Beijing was to
remedy the disappointment of their Olympic
debut where they finished seventh in the
quad – and it did. In resounding fashion, the
Australians blitzed the men’s double sculls
field, leading all the way, to claim Olympic
gold ahead of Estonia and Great Britain.
”Beijing wasn’t a clean slate. I wanted to
remember what I felt before as inspiration to
make sure we did things properly this time,”
says Brennan, 25, from Tasmania.
”Up until then [2007], I was racing to get onto
the national team. This time I had the specific
aim of getting into the double with Scott and
racing in Beijing,” says Crawshay. ”That’s what
it was going to be.”
After a successful domestic campaign, Brennan
and Crawshay gained selection as Australia’s
double scull, in 2007. Finishing eighth at the
World Championships, they qualified the boat
for Beijing. Despite missing the A Final by
0.49 seconds, the pair relished the tight racing.
”If someone asks why you race, it is for that
tight, competitive atmosphere. It’s challenging,
but it’s really enjoyable,” says Brennan.
”After Athens I couldn’t handle just going to
the Olympic Games. I wanted to race with
the best guy, with the best chance. It was the
double or nothing.’”
However, in the mind of Coach Rhett Ayliffe,
the crew had the potential to blow the field
open. Brennan was the under-23 World
Champion in the single sculls, in 2003.
Meanwhile, Crawshay had been Australia’s
premier sculler of the last Olympiad.
Crawshay shared this sentiment. The 29-year-old
Victorian admitted his first Olympic experience
caused him great angst. Training together from
late 2006 – prior to national team selections –
the duo committed themselves to the double.
”It was a close event, because no one was
dominating it. I had a crew that could,” says
Ayliffe, an Australian representative in the
men’s double sculls at the 1995 World Rowing
Championships, in Finland.
© 2008 FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images
“When I line up, I’m not there to win.
I’m there to wipe the floor.”
”They should have had a gold medal in 2004
[in the quadruple sculls]. They won the preOlympic Regatta in Lucerne by two lengths.
They killed everybody.”
”They had the potential to do what they did
this time, last time.”
Open, honest communication between coach
and crew, was how this potential was realised.
”Scott’s got a relentless attitude to making
changes. I thought he was just grumpy,” says
Crawshay. ”Instead I was possibly too nice.
I had to learn not to sugarcoat things.” >>
Australia’s David Crawshay (l)
and Scott Brennan celebrate
their gold medal during the
medal ceremony at the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing.
Top Rowers
David Crawshay (b) and
Scott Brennan (s) celebrate their
victory in the men’s double
sculls at the 2008 Olympic
Games in Beijing, China.
Brennan’s fastidious approach helped
condition his partner for the rigours of
Olympic competition.
”Personal feelings aside, the gold medal is
what we wanted,” says Brennan. ”As long as
we commented on something relevant, you
could never take it personally.”
© 2008 Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images
With this uncompromising ethic, the double
would race at Shunyi’s Olympic Rowing Park
on their own terms. Despite Brennan recover­
ing from a respiratory infection that hampered
his heat performance, the double had no
intention of holding back.
”We wanted to commit to the first thousand
metres. We knew we were efficient and had
good speed. My only concern was that they’d
overdone it,” says Ayliffe, who was coaching
at his first Olympics.
However, inside the boat, the double was
flowing and feeling good.
”At 1000m, I knew we were going to win,” says
Brennan. ”We had done it so efficiently and
knew we had so much left. I just couldn’t see
us losing.’”
Crawshay reflected on the importance of
their victory to others.
”The best motivation to do anything is for
yourself. But you see the effect it has on those
close to you – especially your family, friends
– it does add a new dimension. Maybe you’re
not just rowing for yourself?”
And they didn’t. Crossing the line, Crawshay
was lost for words.
In the short-term, the duo will switch focus to
their professional lives. In January, Brennan,
a qualified doctor, will commence work at
a Tasmanian hospital. Crawshay will likely
return to a position as a Liberal Party staffer
in Melbourne. However, London 2012 is not
far from their minds.
”All I could do was shout. It was almost comical
in a way. But that was the initial ecstasy of
it all.”
”I’d love to go on to London, but you realise
the motivation has to be different. That’s going
to be a great challenge,” says Crawshay.
For Brennan, the victory lifted an
emotional burden that had lingered
since the Athens Games.
If Brennan and Crawshay do reunite, the
rowing world should brace itself. Coach
Ayliffe believes there’s much improvement
to come.
”To actually hold the gold
medal in your hand – it
was tangible. All the
emotions that I had
carried for four years
were represented in that
medal. They were no
longer a part of me.”
”That crew can go faster. They should have
won by the margin they had at the 500m
mark. They’re still learning about the double.”
■ Tom Nickson
9
© 2008 Get
ty Images
© 200
Meet the 2008 OLYMPIC Champions
LW2x
8 Gett
y Imag
es
Andrew Triggs Hodge (l), Tom James, Steve Williams and Pete Reed (r) perpetuated Great Britain’s
legacy in the men’s four, following in the footsteps of previous British champions in this boat
class Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.
At the 2004 Athens Games, Kirsten van der Kolk (l) and
Marit van Eupen of the Netherlands won bronze. During
the following three years, van der Kolk became a mother
and van Eupen competed in the lightweight single. The duo
came back together again in the lead up to Beijing with the
aim of winning the Olympic title - they did so with golden
shoes in their boat.
M4Australian fans in the grandstands at the 2008 Olympic Games
in Beijing, China.
10
© Detlev Seyb
Reigning Olympic Champion
and five-time World Champion
Drew Ginn (l) of Australia won
his third Olympic gold medal
with new partner in the men’s
pair, Duncan Free.
-
M2
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Sey
W4x
Meet the 2008 OLYMPIC Champions
Poland’s Konrad Wasielewski (r), Marek Kolbowicz, Michal Jelinski
and Adam Korol (l) had won the World Rowing Championships
every year since 2005 and set a new World Best Time in 2006. In
Beijing they confirmed their supremacy and won gold ahead of
Italy and France.
11
©2
008
Ge
tty
LM4-
Im
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M1x
© 2008 Getty
Images
© 2008 Getty
Olaf Tufte of Norway knows how
to perform when it counts. With
Olympic silver and gold already in his
medal collection, would he manage
to challenge triple World Champion
Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and
claim the title of Olympic Champion
yet again? The answer was yes.
Images
© 2008 Getty Images
M4x
The women’s quadruple
sculls was a face-off
between three-time World
Champions Great Britain and
China who won the 2008
Rowing World Cup in Lucerne.
In the Olympic Final, China
impressively moved up from
third to overtake the British crew.
Bin Tang (b), Ziwei Jin, Aihua Xi
and Yangyang Zhang (s) won their
nation’s first-ever Olympic gold
in rowing.
Eskild Ebbesen retired in 2004 after winning Olympic gold
number two in Denmark’s legendary Guldfireren. In 2007,
at age 35, he came back to the rowing scene with his eyes
set on Beijing. We’re sure he had no regrets when he and
crewmates Thomas Ebert, Morten Joergensen and
Mads Kruse Andersen crossed the line first.
Meet the 2008 OLYMPIC Champions
Zac Purchase (r) and Mark Hunter dominated the
lightweight men’s double sculls during the 2008 Rowing
World Cup series and went on to win Great Britain’s second
Olympic gold medal in rowing in Beijing.
ty Images
© 2008 Getty Imag
es
LM2x
© 2008 Get
12
Romania owned this event at
the past three Olympic Games.
In Beijing, two-time World
Champions the USA won their
heat, as did reigning Olympic
Champions Romania. But the
USA dominated the Final from
start to finish, with gold going
to crewmembers Erin Cafaro
(b), Lindsay Shoop,
Anna Goodale,
Eleanor Logan,
Anna Cummins,
Zsuzsanna Francia,
Caroline Lind,
Caryn Davies (s) and
Mary Whipple (c).
Romania took bronze,
the Netherlands silver.
W8+
W1x
Bulgaria’s Rumyana Neykova
had been waiting for this
moment ever since she first
won silver at the 2000 Sydney
Games. In 2004, she won Olympic
bronze. In Beijing, Neykova got the
better of archrival and two-time
Olympic Champion Ekaterina
Karsten, winning her long-awaited
Olympic gold medal.
© 2008 AFP
© 2008 AFP
Canada broke the curse that seemed to limit the performance of reigning World Champions in the
men’s eight at the Olympic Games. Kevin Light (b), Ben Rutledge, Andrew Byrnes, Jake Wetzel,
Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Adam Kreek, Kyle Hamilton (s) and Brian Price (c) secured
Olympic gold after winning World Championship gold in 2007.
M8+
© Detlev Seyb
Meet the 2008 OLYMPIC Champions
They did so in style,
dominating the Final from
the start and crossing the
line more than one second
ahead of Estonia.
M2x
© 2008 AFP
W2x
13
Romania’s Georgeta Andrunache -Damian (l) made history by becoming one of rowing’s
most medalled Olympic athletes in Beijing. Winning her fifth Olympic gold medal in
the women’s pair with crewmate Viorica Susanu (who won her fourth Olympic gold),
Andrunache equalled the feat of Elisabeta Lipa (ROU) and Steve Redgrave (GBR).
© 2008 AFP
Australia’s David Crawshay (l)
and Scott Brennan won what
was perhaps the least expected
gold medal of the 2008 Olympic
Rowing Regatta.
Slovenian fans in the grandstands
at the 2008 Olympic Games in
Beijing, China.
© Igor Meijer
Twin sisters Georgina and
Caroline Evers-Swindell from
New Zealand were the reigning
Olympic Champions and had
three World Championship
golds to their credit, but mixed
results over the past three
years meant that a gold medal
performance in Beijing was
uncertain. The Evers-Swindells
managed an amazing comeback
and took gold in one of the most
spectacular finishes of the 2008
Olympic Rowing Regatta - winning
ahead of Germany by 1/100th
of a second.
W2-
Features
The Great Dane
© Iain Brambell
Cameras and the media bustle around athletes at the Olympic Games.
Coaches remain relatively hidden. In a private room above the
boathouse at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Park, Coach Bent Jensen was
dealing with more than nervous athlete issues.
14
Jensen is best known for his ability to make
lightweight men row fast, most notably Danish
lightweight men. Since moving to Canada in
2006, Jensen continued to make lightweight
men go fast but there was a new angle to his
coaching style. Jensen had cancer.
Canadian lightweight rower Iain Brambell and
crewmate Jon Beare had retired from rowing
after the Athens Olympics. Veterans of the
lightweight four at two Olympic Games, they
wanted to work with Jensen. “He was 100 per
cent the reason both of us came back,” says
Brambell. “This was an opportunity to be part
of Bent’s programme.”
Brambell and Beare had been rowing against
Jensen’s Danish crews for years. “We had heard
stories about how the Danes trained,” says
Brambell. “We were rowing two to three times
a day, six days a week while the Danes had fulltime jobs and didn’t row if the water was bad.”
Competing on the international circuit,
Brambell says he got to know some of the
athletes he rowed against but rarely got to
know other coaches. Brambell, however, had
a feel for Jensen. “Bent was always there with
his athletes. He didn’t know much English,
but he always said ‘hello’ to us.”
He’d literally be confined
to his room and we’d still find
just as much inspiration.
In Canada, Brambell got to know Jensen as
a coach. “It didn’t matter how stressful or
difficult the training was, Bent was always
relaxed. He made things fun. Even though
he was battling with cancer, no matter how
difficult it was for him, he always kept his
sense of humour.”
This attitude meant the athletes were
relatively unaware of how Jensen was doing.
“None of us could comprehend how serous
his illness was,” says Brambell.
“All of the way through (cancer treatment)
Bent never took time away really,” says
Brambell. “If he did we knew it was serious.”
Jensen went so far as to plan the training
programme around his treatments. “Bent
would come out with us for the morning
row. He’d then go to chemo and return the
next morning,” describes Brambell. Jensen
would then time his post-treatment recovery
for when the crew was not on the water.
Jensen, now 60 years old, started treatment
for a second time in the middle of 2008.
This did not stop him from persisting with
his coaching programme almost as normal.
The lightweight men’s four had qualified for
Beijing and, after finishing fourth at the >>
Bent Jensen with his Olympic
bronze medallist crew of Iain
Brambell, Jon Beare, Mike
Lewis and Daniel Parsons.
Features
© Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images
2004 Olympic Champions, the
Danish lightweight men’s four
of Eskild Ebbesen, Stephan
Moelvig, Thomas Ebert and Thor
Kristensen.
2007 World Rowing Championships, medal
chances at the Olympics were looking good.
where they would describe the session to
their coach.
While in Beijing, Jensen’s treatment continu­
ed. Brambell describes that Jensen started off
by coming to the boathouse at the Shunyi
Olympic regatta course and he would follow
the crew on his bike. But then the first treat­
ment set him back. So the crew would do their
training session and then go to Jensen’s hotel
room afterwards
“He’d literally be confined to his room,” says
Brambell, “and we’d still find just as much
inspiration.”
For a full decade Jensen was the coach be­
hind Denmark’s rowing hero, Eskild Ebbesen.
Ebbesen was part of Denmark’s light­weight
four, Guldfireren, who dominated the event
nationally from their win at the 1996
inter­
Olympic Games through to gold again in
2004.
Ebbesen describes Jensen, “He knows what
to say to make the boat go faster. He just sees
it without having to analyse it. Also he is good
at making people feel comfortable on a team.
He has good humour and knows when his
rowers are not all right.”
“Bent is good at giving
the rowers a lot of
responsibility them­
selves. He is not the
type who thinks he
has to be there every
time to make the
team hard enough.
He makes a team
that wants to win.”
“The incredible part about Bent is he’s there
to make you a good athlete and a good
person,” says Brambell. “He wants you there
100 per cent for rowing but he also prepares
you for life after rowing.”
“The way in which Bent continues to battle
his illness has most certainly had a profound
impact on my perspective on rowing,” says
Brambell. “However, long before Bent became
ill he, as a person, changed my perspective on
life and as a coach he most certainly changed
my perspective on rowing. All for the better!”
Jensen was unable to make it to the rowing
course for the Olympic Finals, but Brambell
says it did not prevent his influence and
inspiration being felt.“He taught us everything
we needed to know before we left Canada,”
says Brambell. “Someone in the boat would
remember something Bent had said.”
The lightweight men’s four Final at the Beijing
Olympics had both Jensen’s former crew
Denmark and his current Canadian crew
racing. At the finish line both crews medalled.
A fitting tribute to coach Bent Jensen.
■ M.S.B.
As we went to print we regret to say Bent passed
away on 9 December 2008 after his fight with
pancreatic cancer.
15
Features
ASSESSING THEIR BEIJING PERFORMANCE
Great Britain topped the rowing medals table in Beijing. With
two gold, two silver and two bronze medals, they amassed their
highest medal tally since the 1908 Games. They have reason
to be proud.
16
Can a nation’s performance be assessed solely on the basis of medal count?
Looking back on the 2008 Olympic Games, World Rowing assesses a handful of
countries that have just experienced their best Games and others that enjoyed
more satisfying results at previous Games. What hides behind the numbers?
What should be expected in the future?
BULGARIA
Host nation China topped the overall medal table at the
2008 Olympic Games with 51 gold medals. In rowing, however,
China might have hoped for more. The results of its crews over the
past few years were at times brilliant, showing the country’s determination
to collect as many Olympic medals as possible in a sport which had not received
much attention previously, and at other times inconsistent. China, however, finished
the Olympic Rowing Regatta with the satisfaction of having won its first ever Olympic
rowing gold, thanks to its women’s quadruple sculls crew, as well as an Olympic silver. “I am
very excited and proud about the first gold medal that the Chinese rowing team won at
the Olympic Games. We were waiting for this gold medal for 20 years!” says Zhang Qing, VicePresident of the Chinese Rowing Association. “For many years, various Chinese clubs have been
recruiting a lot of foreign coaches and technicians to work with the local people. Due to our past
achievements in women’s rowing, we will certainly continue
to attach big importance to female competitive rowing,”
says Qing. “This is why our team has had good results
for the past years. But our men’s team has also
progressed, as seen in Beijing.”
© 2008 AFP
Република България
CHINA
© 2008 AFP
Réécrire comme suit: All Bulgarian eyes turned
to rowing when fellow citizen Rumyana Neykova
became Bulgaria’s only Olympic Champion at the 2008
Games. She won gold in the women’s single sculls at Shunyi
Olympic Rowing Park. Bulgaria had last won Olympic gold in
rowing over 30 years ago at the Montreal Games in 1976. “Rumyana’s
gold medal will have an impact on rowing in Bulgaria,” says Bulgarian
Rowing Federation President Svetla Otzetova. “The sport will be better
supported by the government, and its popularity has substantially
increased.” As for the future development of the sport in
Bulgaria, Otzetova says: “We are now looking for
talent at the junior level and trying to keep
them through to the under-23 level. If
you don’t support rowers financially
they will leave the sport. Now we
have the finances to support
both the rowers and
coaches.”
Suomen tasavalta
FINLAND
More than 20 years have gone by since Finland won an Olympic medal in rowing, back in the
days of legendary single sculler Pertti Karpinnen. In Beijing, Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen
put an end to their nation’s Olympic rowing medal drought, grabbing silver in the lightweight
women’s double. “The National Olympic Committee has been intensively involved in our
Beijing 2008 lightweight women’s double project since 2004,” says Marleena Valtasola,
member of the Finnish Rowing Federation Executive Committee. “Currently it
seems that the support for rowing will grow. The additional financial support
will hopefully focus especially on coaching.” For London 2012, Finnish
rowing is planning to involve other promising athletes, although
Sten and Nieminen will remain the core of the team.
ITALY
Italy has seen more successful Olympic years,
winning only one medal – silver – in Beijing. But
Michele de Lauretis, Secretary General of the
Italian rowing federation, does not complain:
“I know how difficult it is to get a medal at the
Olympics, so I am very happy for the success of
Galtarossa and company in the men’s quadruple
sculls,”he says.“The Olympic Games are really different
from the Rowing World Cup series and World Rowing
Championships. In Athens we won three bronze medals
and everyone within the rowing movement was unhappy;
in Beijing we won one silver and we have the same
situation, but this time some rowers are
satisfied and others not.”
Polska
Česká republika
POLAND
I ma
ge s
CZECH REPUBLIC
08
Ge
tt y
In Beijing, the Czech Republic grabbed
The 2008
its second ever Olympic medal in rowing. Both
Olympic
20
of the medals were silver. Four of the six Czech crews
R
o w i n g
©
competing in Beijing qualified for the Olympic Final. “Our
Regatta
was
results are the product of patient and systematic work. But
the most successful
we expected more!” says Czech Head Coach Premysl
that Poland has ever experienced. With silver added to
Panuska. Czech rowing has yet to earn Olympic gold and
gold, Beijing was one step up from Sydney and Athens.
the aim to do so in London drives single scullers Mirka
This breakthrough did not happen overnight. “At the Games
Knapkova and Ondrej Synek on. In view of the
preceding Sydney, Poland had won a total of 11 Olympic
next Olympics, Czech rowing is also seeking
medals, but never gold. It was a psychological barrier that was
to further develop its male sculling
very difficult to overcome,” says Richard Stadniuk, president of the
crews – this has become the
Polish Rowing Federation. “Sycz and Kucharski [lightweight men’s
task of newly recruited
double sculls] broke that barrier when they won gold in Sydney
Finnish
coach
and then in Athens.” By winning, Sycz and Kucharski became an
Veikko Sinisalo.
inspiration for rowers across the nation: “They showed Polish rowers
© 2008 AFP
Italia
that it was possible
to reach the highest goals.
Competitors began to believe in
themselves more. Everyone wanted
to equal Sycz and Kucharski,” explains
Stadniuk. The men’s quadruple sculls became
their successors in Beijing.
Looking to London 2012, Poland is aiming to reach
new heights in women’s rowing. “We’ve never won
an Olympic medal in women’s rowing,” says Stadniuk.
“We have a rowing programme aimed at increasing
female rower representation at the London Games
and winning a medal there in a female boat class.”
The strategy seems to be promising as up-andcoming Polish female rowers have already made a
mark on the international scene, winning medals and
■ D.F.
titles at world under-23 level. © 2008 Getty Images
© 2008 Getty Images
Features
17
Features
18
A year before the Beijing Olympic Games, American economist Daniel Johnson
predicted the overall medal outcome of the Games. He had done this for 2004 coming
out with 95 per cent accuracy. Johnson did not look at prior country success, athlete
results or anything to do with athlete information. Johnson used only economics.
Employing an economic formula, Johnson, a
professor at Colorado College, USA, based his
prediction solely on country economic indicators like per-capita income, population,
climate, political structure and home-nation
advantage. The formula shows that athletes
from wealthy nations close to the Olympic
host country are most likely to do well.
Postiglione analysed the 2008 Olympic results,
not by economic factors, but by comparing
Beijing with the 2004 Olympic Games and
the 2007 World Rowing Championship
results. Looking solely at countries and not at
athletes or their circumstances, Postiglione
found that results in Beijing were in fact
relatively predictable.
If Olympic results can be picked from factors
beyond past results and athletes’ known
abilities, how easy was it to predict who
would win the rowing medals at Beijing’s
Shunyi Olympic Rowing venue on 16 and 17
of August 2008?
In the 14 Olympic events, there were no
events that had a completely different top
three when compared to Athens and Munich.
The women’s single, women’s double,
women’s quad and women’s eight showed
a remarkable consistency when compared
to both 2004 and 2007 results. Similarly the
women’s pair showed predictability with two
of the same countries making it to the top
three in 2004, 2007 and in Beijing.
FISA’s competitive commission member and
international rowing coach Gianni Postiglione
noted that some people were talking about
big surprises in the results. But how surprising
were they?
Using 2007 results, the men’s single, and
lightweight men’s double had exactly the
© Detlev Seyb
Predicting Beijing results:
can you foretell the finish?
same countries in the top three both years.
The men’s pair, men’s quad and men’s eight
followed a pattern of having two of the
same boats in 2007 but the result was less
predictable when compared to 2004.
At the less predictable end of the scale, the
lightweight women’s double only had one
boat the same each time when comparing
2004 and 2007 with Beijing. This leaves three
events: the men’s double, men’s four and
lightweight men’s four, which can be put into
the less predictable file.
The men’s double came out as the most
surprising Olympic result for many observers,
with medals going to Australia, Estonia and
Great Britain. This result, says Postiglione,
is really the only race that could not be
predicted from past results. None of the
Beijing medallists had featured at Athens and
only one medalled in 2007. Australia’s >>
The Polish lightweight men’s
four express their joy at
winning silver at the 2008
Beijing Games. Apart from
Pawel Randa (far left), who
won bronze in the lightweight
men’s double at the 2005 World
Rowing Championships, none
of them had ever medalled at
World Championship level in an
Olympic boat class before the
Beijing Games.
Features
The 2007 World Championship
podium in the men’s four
included New Zealand, Italy and
the Netherlands. At the 2008
Olympic Games, none of these
crews made it to the Final.
Pictured here is Great Britain’s
men’s four, who, after failing
to medal at the 2007 World
Rowing Championships, made
it back to the top in time to grab
gold in Beijing.
“There were no superstar performers in this
event,” says Donaldson who believes the
stage was set for Australia to do well when
they finished sixth at the first Rowing World
Cup of 2007.
Donaldson, who is a veteran of every
Olympic Games since Barcelona (1992)
notes that there is a recognisable step up in
an Olympic year. “The Olympic Games bring
out athletes who haven’t been fully prepared
in the last four years, for example university
students who stop to put everything in to
the Olympic year. One year out from the
Olympics they become full-time athletes.”
Postiglione observes what he calls the“Olympic
rowers”. These athletes may not do so well in
between Olympic Games but at the Olympics
they are able to have their best race.
“They make exceptional races every four
years,” says Postiglione. “They work on
the Olympic cycle rather than the world
championship cycle.” These athletes include
single scullers Olaf Tufte (NOR) and Rumyana
Neykova (BUL), the Romanian women’s pair
and eight and the Dutch women’s eight and
lightweight women’s double.
Leading up to the Beijing Olympics the
country on everyone’s lips was China. The
host country’s big push to do well in rowing
had already paid dividends with 10 boats
qualifying and six boats in the top six in 2007
as well has a host of World Cup medals from
that year. At Beijing, China got six boats into
the top six and secured two medals including
their first ever gold medal in rowing at the
Olympic Games. Expectations, however, were
possibly much higher.
Donaldson
considers
China’s
results
predictable. “The have been inconsistent,” says
Donaldson. “They have had highs and lows.”
Postiglione says that even more accuracy in
prediction could be achieved by taking into
account the actual athletes in the boat.
19
And how did Professor Johnson do? He
posted a 93 per cent accurate forecast for the
overall 2008 Beijing Olympic medal results.
■ M. S. B.
© Igor Meijer
high performance manager, Noel Donaldson,
however, says the Australian win was no
surprise.
© 2007 CLEMENS BILAN/AFP/Getty Images
Features
ROWING’S answer
to Michael Phelps
20
Michael Phelps and his eight Olympic gold medals in swimming were one of the
sporting highlights of the 2008 Games in Beijing. The nature of rowing does not
allow an athlete to win more than two medals at any given Games, but the
accomplishments of rowing athletes are nonetheless just as remarkable. Our sport
has seen individuals who, through ongoing perseverance and energy, have
medalled repeatedly at consecutive Games, in some cases over a 20-year period.
Rowing’s most famous example is Great
Britain’s Sir Steve Redgrave and his five
Olympic gold medals won at five different
Games , starting at the 1984 Olympics in Los
Angeles and ending at the Sydney Games in
2000. But since Athens 2004, Redgrave is no
longer an exception in rowing’s record books.
Less famous outside of the rowing world yet
just as noteworthy are Romania’s Elisabeta
Lipa and Georgeta Andrunache-Damian who
now hold the same score.
and eight has been Andrunache-Damian’s
trademark since Sydney. Will she do so again
in London 2012? “Right now I need a long
rest. I’d like to have another baby, be quiet for
a while and then think about racing at the
Games - London will be a great opportunity
to attempt a new record,” says Andrunache
-Damian. “What happened to me this year
[Olympic gold and bronze] is fabulous. It was
magical! First of all because I promised my
son a medal and brought it back with me.”
Such accomplishments do not come without
sacrifices, as Andrunache-Damian confirms:
“I’ve made many sacrifices in my sports
career. The biggest one has been to stay
away from the two dear men in my life – my
husband and son – for two years.” Doubling
up at the Olympic Games in the women’s pair
How do athletes “hang in there” year after
year, World Championship after World
Championship, Olympic cycle after Olympic
cycle? What spurs them on?
With her four world titles and three Olympic
silvers, Great Britain’s most medalled female
rower, Katherine Grainger, has been through
the cycle time and time again, finding the
motivation to keep on moving: “I won’t deny
the fact that it can be very tough to maintain
the necessary levels of enthusiasm and drive
year after year, especially in Britain where the
weather always provides its own difficulties!
But underlying the pain, stress and exhaustion
lies a love of the sport and an excitement to
be facing enormous challenges with a great
>>
bunch of people.”
Marit van Eupen from
the Netherlands
Features
© Peter Spurrier/Intersport-Images
Persevering year after year does not ne­
cessarily imply monotony, as Grainger
explains: “One of the biggest challenges
for me is avoiding the thought of ‘here
we go again’. It’s important that I’m not
going back to
do exactly what
I’ve done for
the past year or
four years, I don’t
want to slip into
complacency or
a comfort zone.
Every year I have
rowed has held
a roller coaster
of
experiences
that I could not
have predicted so
I am aware that it’s
unlikely to be dull!”
Katherine Grainger (GBR)
holding her 2006 World
Championship gold medal.
Grainger has had her
share of success, but
has also had to grapple
with disappointment:
“I think it’s valuable for
young athletes to know
that everyone who has
succeeded has also had their
fair share of failure and disappointment.
Not everything will always go your way
and as time goes on you realise that those
disappointments actually helped you more
than you could imagine - you learn more and
get stronger, growing into the kind of athlete
you want to be. Perseverance has a magical
effect on overcoming obstacles and it is most
certainly worth it in the end.”
New Zealand’s Evers-Swindell twins Georgina
and Caroline also know the meaning of
disappointment. The path leading to their
second Olympic title in Beijing was bumpy
to say the least: “Things were pretty bad after
the Rowing World Cup in Poland and when
we returned to New Zealand our biggest
challenge was trying to stay positive. Georgie
and I usually focus on the negative, on what
we can improve, rather than what we’re
actually good at,” says Caroline. “So between
Poland and Beijing, our challenge was to
focus on the positive and what we do well. It
may sound simple, but it was a task that didn’t
come easily to the two of us. But by the time
we left for the Olympics we were getting the
hang of it.” Caroline goes on to share what it
was like for her and Georgina to then win in
Beijing: “When we crossed the finish line [in
Beijing], although we had no idea what color
medal we’d got, we were just so happy that
we had managed to row well and managed
to give it everything.”
Coaches are unarguably key motivators in
long athletic careers. Georgina and Caroline
say of Coach Dick Tonks: “He believed in us
when we didn’t believe in ourselves.”
Taking one step at a time and one year at a
time sometimes leads further than originally
expected. That is what the Netherlands’ Marit
van Eupen discovered on her way to Beijing
gold, after winning bronze in 2004: “I decided
to go for one more year after Athens, because
I wanted to rediscover the simple joy of the
sport, something that had faded away a bit
in the 2004 campaign, and also because
I had the opportunity to race in the single,
which I really love. And then it just happened
that I became triple world champion in the
lightweight single. After the 2007 World
Rowing Championships I was ready for
retirement, and it was only because all the
pieces came together - commitment and
dedication from all parties, support, fitness,
resources - that I decided to give it a go.”
Achieving, however, is more than just the
result of genetics, training and perseverance.
Achievers are those who dare to dream,
as triple Olympic gold medallist Eskild
Ebbesen of Denmark says so well: “It’s all
about believing that you have the potential
to achieve and see it as a realistic goal.
What gives life meaning is that you have
something that you aim for and something
that you really want to do and have dreams.”
■ D.F.
21
The aging Olympian debate
22
It is generally thought that Olympic
rowers, as part of a strength and
endurance sport, peak in their late
twenties with the average age of the
Olympians at around 27 years old. There
is also the general belief that older
athletes cannot maintain the speed of
their younger counterparts. If this is true,
why does it appear that there are more
rowers staying in the sport for longer
and remaining competitive well past
their assumed peak years?
At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Regatta, two
high-profile athletes were in their 43rd year.
James Tomkins was racing in the Australian
men’s eight. In the same boat was Sam Conrad,
Tomkins’ junior by 18 years. For Tomkins,
making it into the eight meant securing his
seat over much younger team members.
Jueri Jaanson of Estonia, also nearly 43 years
old at Beijing, was partnered with 28–yearold Tonu Endrekson in the men’s double and
together they took silver. Jaanson, who has
been rowing at the top level since his youth,
was nearly 39 years old before he won his first
Olympic medal.
Looking at the last 20 years of Olympic Games,
the number of older rowers (determined here
as 35 years of age and older) has increased
steadily (see Fig. 1 on page 23). This increase
is despite there being more Olympic rowers
at the 1988 Games (a total of 622) before the
quota system began in 1996, capping the
number of rowers at 550.
At the Games in 1988 there were just six
older rowers. A steady increase over the next
20 years of older athletes has brought this
number to 28 in 2008. In percentage terms,
this takes the number of older athletes from
less than 1 per cent (1988) up to 5 per cent in
2008 (see Fig. 2 on page 23).
USA Today (8 August 2008 issue) wrote
that the average age of America’s Olympic
athletes had increased to 27, up from 23 a
generation ago. The article went on to say,
“Experts attribute the trend to advances in
training and injury-recovery techniques, as
well as rules changes that allow athletes to
make money and still retain their Olympic
eligibility. Twenty-one members of the U.S.
team are 40 or older.”
There have been a number of studies that have
looked into the impact of aging on athlete
competitiveness, but these studies are often
incomplete as athletes frequently retire from
top level competition for reasons other than
a loss of competitive edge due to aging.
For rowers these external reasons
include the desire to begin a career,
time constraints due to a full-time
job, family commitments and
>>
many more.
Four-time Olympic Champion
Kathrin Boron from Germany
competed at her fifth Olympic
Games in Beijing where she won
her fifth Olympic medal (bronze
in the women’s quadruple sculls)
at the age of 39.
© Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images
Features
Features
Spirduso et al. (2005) looked at masters competitors, including rowers, and found there was a mar­
ked reduction in both frequency and intensity with which they train. The reasons given were:
1. Maintaining full-time jobs, so less time
to train.
2. Have a lifetime of experiences that
mean they place training time and sport
competition within a broader perspective than a 20-year-old.
3. For many people an aggressive training
programme is hard to maintain when
the potential victory that will come out
of that training is not so glamorous. It is
easier to train with the aim of a national
or world placing rather than training for
a win in an age group masters category.
4. Older athletes are more prone to injuries
and take a longer time to rehabilitate
from injury.
5. Older athletes are less likely to use performance-enhancing behaviours.
6. Less likely to view sport as a potential
source of revenue or a way out of an
undesirable lifestyle.
7. The motivation to train and compete
decreases with age.
8. Ageism – societal attitudes towards
older participants. Expectations that
older people should rest.
Fig 1. Olympic rowers 35 years of age and older
35+ years
38+ years
40+ years
1988
6
1
0
1992
14
6
1
1996
13
4
1
The study noted that the recent records of
masters athletes aged 50 – 59 were faster
or almost the same as the best times at the
1896 Olympic Games (except for the 200m
sprint). It should also be highlighted that
the record in the 40km cycling road race
event, the United States record for men aged
60 to 69 is only 14 per cent lower than the US
elite record.
“This phenomenal maintenance of function
occurs in events such as cycling, running,
swimming and rowing sports in which the
systems most resistant to aging – aerobic,
endurance and strategy – are predominant.”
>>
Fig 2. Percentage of total Olympic rowers 35 years of age or older
2000
20
6
0
Note:
1. Does not include coxswains as physicality is used as one of the main indicators.
2. Age calculated by year athlete born, not age at Olympic Games.
3. Using 35 years of age and older is a guide based on current athlete ages.
2004
22
6
3
2008
28
8
5
% 35+
years
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
1.0
n/a
2.4
3.7
4.0
5.2
Note: Does not include coxswains.
23
Features
24
Baltes and Baltes (1993) summarised that
studies of masters athletes show the critical
role of practice and maintaining training.
“These athletes appear able to easily
maintain or even improve their performance
by maintaining or increasing the amount of
training and practice.”
Baltes continues: “The mean absolute
performance across time indicates that
contemporary training methods can go a
long way toward compensating for agerelated declines in performance.”
The study concluded that it is unlikely that
the true limits of performance will ever be
completely reached as other factors step in
to reduce the training capacity of the older
athlete. “Intensive training over months,
years, and decades, taxes resources such as
time and effort that are also required for other
needs, interests and external demands.”
As rowing becomes more professional and
competitive rowers find ways to reduce
external reasons for quitting the sport, there
is every potential for these athletes to remain
in the sport for longer and stay at the top of
their game for longer. Perhaps in the future
rowers like Tomkins and Jaanson will not be
defined and singled out by their age.
■ M. S. B.
Four-time Olympic medallist
James Tomkins (AUS) competed
at his sixth Olympic Games in
Beijing at the age of 43.
© 2007 Getty Images
Analysis by Leitzelter et al. (1986) argued that
the decline in performance of athletes was
not so much a feature of their biological age,
but a reflection of a “decrease in frequency
and intensity of training.”
Not all Olympic rowers had their friends and
family on site to support them in Beijing. How
did those back home cheer for their heroes?
© 2008 AFP/MUSTAFA OZER/Getty Images
Features
© 2008 AFP/MUSTAFA OZER/Getty Images
The Olympic Fan Experience
gold medal winning men’s eight, to share his
Olympic moments. With Beijing being too far
away, the 2:30am live television broadcast
of his race became an opportunity for a late
night TV viewing party in Canada. Hamilton’s
sister Karen hosted a couple dozen anxious
supporters at their parents’ house for a rowdy
red and white barbecue. “We all screamed
at the TV and chanted CA-NA-DA so loud
I’m sure we woke up the neighbours!” says
Karen.
25
How did family and friends of Olympic
rowers share the Beijing experience
from back home? Since the advent of
television broadcasting at the 1936
Olympic Games, the Olympic spectacle
has been brought to living rooms
around the globe. But more recently,
internet and social media technologies
such as Facebook have begun to change
how fans connect with their favorite
Olympic rowers.
Television allowed the family members and
friends of Kyle Hamilton, stroke of Canada’s
The boathouse on Elk Lake, where Canada’s
gold medal eight and silver medal pair trained
tirelessly over the last four years, was the scene
of an even larger party to view the Finals on
the big screen, with junior rowers in pyjamas
excited to stay up late, wildly cheering masters
rowers, and Rowing Canada officials such
as Domestic Development Director Jennifer
Browett. “The Olympic viewing party was
amazing,” says Browett. “It was incredible to see
the looks on some of the junior rowers’ faces
as they watched local rowers Dave Calder and
Kevin Light receive their Olympic medals. It was
literally watching the torch being passed on.”
Across the border in the United States in the
city of Seattle, each fan of hometown favourite
Anna Cummins, five seat in the gold medal
women’s eight, had a unique experience
watching her race. “NBC didn’t show our
women’s eight Final until around prime time
Sunday night,” says Cummins. “I have heard
story after story of people staying up until 2am
watching the race on their computer while
having another one of my family or friends on
the telephone. One of my favourite parts about
coming home after the Olympics was hearing
the stories of how people watched my race.”
Without live television coverage, rowing fans
in many parts of the world relied on other
technologies.
Fans of women’s single silver medallist
Michelle Guerette (USA) listened to a phone
call from her coach, Charlie Butt, who narrated
her race from the bike as he followed her
along the course.
In South Africa, fans of Ramon Di Clemente
and Shaun Keeling used the silent >>
A Canadian fan
Features
Facebook fanpage for Nathan
Twaddle of New Zealand.
26
Facebook fan page for Canada’s
lightweight double of Tracy
Cameron and Melanie Kok.
race tracker on
along
with cell phones, as Olympic rights issues did
not allow the usual live audio commentary
streaming: “We all got our cell phones out
and conference called each other while
we watched the live timing online,” says
Andrew Grant, coach for King Edward VII
School Rowing Club in Johannesburg. “As
the 500m splits showed up we would have a
brief chat about what we thought and then
a brief period of silence would follow as we
anticipated the next split. At the 1500m mark,
just down on a qualification spot, Ramon and
Shaun were going to have to pull something
out of the bag. The one and a half minutes
that it took for the result to come up seemed
like a lifetime. Then pandemonium broke out
on the cell network as we learned that they
had inched, literally, into the A Final!”
Zsuzsanna Francia, Cummins’ crewmate in
the USA’s women’s eight, found that the social
media website Facebook offered her a sense of
connection through a support group created
in her honour by Stephanie Foelster, a former
roommate and rowing teammate from the
Athletic Club of Pennsylvania University.
“Our rowing class was thrilled when Susan
was named to the 2008 Olympic team!” says
Foelster. “I created her support group as a
way to let other former rowers, and also old
friends from Pennsylvania University, know
about her great accomplishment. As people
found out, they began following her Beijing
whereabouts themselves. Many people left
messages on the group’s wall for Susan and
many more wrote on Susan’s own Facebook
wall after seeing the group. It was a simple
way for Susan to see how much support she
had back in the United States.”
Francia agreed: “It was great because
people I hadn’t spoken to in years joined!
My best friends from my university rowing
programme made the group. I loved having
the group because it made me realise how
many people were cheering for me!”
A Facebook fan group for Nathan Twaddle
allowed non-rowers like New Zealander Scott
Anderson who has lived in Canada for the last
three years to show support for a sport he saw
as his native country’s best chance for medals.
“The guts and effort required in rowing are
something that all Kiwis are proud of when
explaining the events we’ve won medals in,”
says Anderson. “The group gave me a greater
sense of loyalty to the cause when I couldn’t
■ Lisa Lynam
be there to cheer them on.”
© 2008 AFP PHOTO/IOPP POOL/ALY SONG
Features
In your words
Rowers tell us in their own words what it was like for them to be in Beijing. Here are
some extracts from their blogs as well as direct quotes...
27
Olympic preparation
“I think that throughout history every athlete
at every Olympic Games will have wanted
to crawl under a rock and hide until it’s all
over at some point in their preparation. It
is difficult not to when you know how big
and important one race is. Whether it is
9.7 seconds or 2.5 hours long, you know
that other people who are the best in their
country, at the peak of their form, are trying
to take what you want most in the world; the
one thing that you have been working so
hard for, for more than four years.” – Peter Reed
(Great Britain), Olympic Champion, men’s four
a long time. I think we were really confident
and serene in our ability to have a good
race. I felt composed, full of huge content.”
– Julien Bahain (France), Olympic bronze
medallist, men’s quadruple sculls
the stroke to produce more speed, so that I
could build up to my desperate sprint in the
finish. I know I have that in me so now is the
time.’ – Olaf Tufte (Norway), Olympic Champion,
men’s single
“Today is a very special day. It is race day.
Shortly after waking up this morning, I could
feel the mini-nuclear reactor in my stomach
starting to fire up, getting ready to turn the
turbines. I run into my teammates in the hotel
room hallway and I can sense that they are
feeling the same thing. Again.” – Adam Kreek
(Canada), Olympic Champion, men’s eight
“Reaching today’s Final was far from
guaranteed, and making it to the podium
even less so. We rowed the last 250m with
our hearts as we had no strength left - it was
worth it.” – Rossano Galtarossa (Italy), Olympic
silver medallist, men’s quadruple sculls
Before the race
“Some who know me will tend to think
I must have been jumping up and down all
night long and not have closed my eyes a bit
the night before the Final, but in the end it
was one of the best nights I had ever had for
Racing to the finish line
“And then my coach came in my head: ‘Dare
to believe in yourself and start to do your
finish before you think you should. Just do it.
I started to count 10 strokes at the time and
started putting in more power at the end of
The medal ceremony
“I was incapable of even rowing a stroke
after the finish, I sat there bent over trying to
recover, it wasn’t happening and thankfully
the rescue boat was soon there to help.
When you’re in that state all you want to do
is be away from everyone so no one can see
you, so they took me to the last place >>
New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale
being helped off the water by
a rescue team after racing the
men’s single sculls Final at the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Features
Italy’s Luca Agamennoni
(b), Simone Venier, Rossano
Galtarossa and Simone Raineri
(s) racing at the 2008 Beijing
Olympic Games in the men’s
quadruple sculls.
There was never any question about making
the (medal) ceremony, even if I had to be
stretchered over I was going to be there.
I wanted to acknowledge the achievements
of Tufte and Synek and because an Olympic
medal ceremony is a very special occasion.
Again I set my mind to trying to control my
body and about 30 minutes after our race had
finished I finally managed to sit up and be
walked towards the medal dais. By the time I
got there I was well enough to walk onto the
dais unassisted and was close to tears when
both Tufte and Synek walked over to me to
give me a hug and check that I was OK.
It was awesome to receive my medal and the
whole ceremony just seemed to flash by. We
did lift Tufte onto our shoulders at the end
although I was struggling and we ended up
going sideways for a while until I managed
to get my body under control and stand
still.” – Mahe Drysdale (New Zealand), bronze
medallist, men’s single
Reflections
“We were never not going to make it. It felt like
a life test. One which for the first time in my
life I felt I was seeing and responding to ahead
of time. It is warped, but when it all began to
unfold I remember thinking and feeling like
this is actually what I have been preparing
for. It was not just a race. It was much, much
more. It was not just a gold medal, but more.
We were not just a pair and, if any or all of
this makes sense, we were more.” – Drew Ginn
(Australia), Olympic Champion, men’s pair
to see it at night when I went there for the
Opening Ceremony. It is so impressive, such
an expression of beauty. For me it is certainly
the most beautiful stadium in the world. But
the second and stronger shock was to see the
inside for the first time, full of people, but still
intimate and so beautiful. In addition, there
was the emotion of the opening ceremony
to start a few minutes later indicating that
we could finally see the result of seven years
of hard work by so many people. The Games
and the competitions were still to happen, to
be discovered with the fantastic uncertainty
of the results which is one of the great
attractions of sport. This will remain for me
the greatest moment of my Beijing Games.”
– FISA president, Denis Oswald
28
Thoughts on Beijing
“I had only seen the Bird’s Nest (stadium)
during the day and my first real shock was
© 2008 FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images
I wanted to be, the media pontoon. I spent
some time on the pontoon before being
stretchered off to the medical tent…
Meet
the 2008 Paralympic Champions
coaches
LTAMix4+
Paralympic Champions from Italy Paola
Protopapa (b), Luca Agoletto, Daniele
Signore, Graziana Saccocci (s) and
Alessandro Franzetti (c).
©2008 Feng Li/
29
Helene Raynsford from Great
Britain (gold), Liudmila
Vauchok of Belarus (silver),
and Laura Schwanger from
the USA (bronze).
© 2008 Feng Li/Getty Images
Getty Images
AW1x
© Detlev Seyb
© 2008 2008 Feng Li/Getty Images
©2008 Feng Li/Getty Ima
ges
and Zilong Shan
lists Yangjing Zhou and Kathryn
al
ed
m
ld
go
a’s
in
an
Ch
allists John Macle
of China, silver med, and bronze medallists from Brazil
Ross from AustraliaJosiane Lima.
Elton Santana and
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TAMix2x
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AM1
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silver m inner Eli
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Oleksan
winner f Israel.
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© 2008 Getty Images/Jamie McDonald
coaches
Paralympics
Storming into the Paralympic Games
The year was 2008. The Paralympic Games in Beijing had finished. Twenty-four adaptive rowers and three
coxswains had made history by being the first ever athletes to receive medals at the Paralympic Rowing Regatta.
Rather than easing onto the Paralympic
scene, the winning adaptive rowers took the
Games by storm. Arms only single sculler
(AW1x) Helene Raynsford of Great Britain
not only took gold in the Final, but also set
a new World Best Time in her heat. More
astoundingly Raynsford achieved this record
in slight head wind conditions. Raynsford is
part of a new group of adaptive rowers who
have been in the sport a relatively short time,
but have redefined the standard.
The new standard demonstrated at Beijing
saw the end of some of the pioneer leaders
in adaptive rowing. World Champions fell and
new blood ploughed on through.
Kathrin Wolff of Germany carries
her oars at Shunyi Olympic
Rowing-Canoeing Park during
day two of the Paralympic
Rowing Regatta in Beijing,
China.
Host nation China came into their own in the
trunk and arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x).
Yangjing Zhou and Zilong Shan are in their
second year of competition and moved up
from qualifying their boat last year in seventh
position to taking Paralympic gold this year.
Italians Paola Protopapa, Luca Agoletto,
Daniele Signore, Graziana Saccocci and cox­
swain Alessandro Franzetti will remember
Beijing. Their win in the legs, trunk and arms
mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) was achieved
with such a comfortable lead that Franzetti did
not have to push his crew in the final sprint.
Great Britain ruled the men’s arms only single
sculls (AM1x). Tom Aggar, who became World
Champion in his first year of international
competition in 2007, was pushed relentlessly
by Oleksandr Petrenko of Ukraine, but Aggar
came through to gold in the final sprint.
Aggar’s win helped push his country into the
top spot overall at the regatta.
At the Shunyi Olympic regatta course the
Beijing organisers ensured a flawless regatta:
the 1000m start line was equipped with a
floating dock, a large crowd of mainly Chinese
supporters created the perfect Paralympic
atmosphere, and boat houses and launching
pontoons were designed for trouble-free use
by the adaptive rowers.
■ M.S.B.
30
coaches
Paralympics
Great Britain’s Paralympic
rowing success
31
Like Britain’s Olympic rowers, who topped
the medal haul in Beijing, its Paralympic
rowers have tapped into the highly funded
GB Rowing programme that is hungry to
continue domination for London 2012.
According to Tom Aggar, 2008 Paralympic
Champion in the Arms Only Single Sculls, GB
Rowing set the bar high for its adaptive team,
in terms of medal goals and target times to
break world records, as it does for its Olympic
rowers, but it also provided similar support
programmes. While adaptive rowing locations
are scattered around the country, the team
comes together at the GB Rowing Training
Centre at Caversham on the Redgrave-Pinsent
Lake and trains under Acting Lead Coach
Adaptive Boats Tom Dyson.
British adaptive team manager Louise
Kingsley says, “Since becoming a Paralympic
sport, rowing has benefited from funding
from UK Sport, National Lottery and Siemens.”
© 2008 Getty Images
Great Britain’s Paralympic rowing team stroked its way to the top of the medal
standings at the first ever Paralympic Rowing Regatta in Beijing. The eight-person
squad fielded three medals - two gold and one bronze - in the four adaptive rowing
boat classes.
Kingsley was in Beijing and continues to work
on the strategic direction of the programme
for 2012. “David Tanner, as GB Rowing’s
Performance Director, has ensured the
adaptive programme has been appropriately
integrated into GB Rowing.”
With eyes on London, Kingsley admits
GB Rowing is still developing its talent
identification strategy and setting target
goals. “Clearly we wish to continue our
success; however, we have not finalised our
specific goals and targets with our funders
yet. We are under no illusion that the standard
will continue to rise as many other nations
will have had the time to develop their own
programmes further.”
Rowers have come to the sport from a variety
of backgrounds, says Kingsley. “We have
found that word of mouth has been the
most effective recruitment tool so far,” says
Kingsley.
Adaptive rowing has seen considerable
growth in Great Britain including a specialised
youth programme led by Simon Goodey at
the London Youth Rowing Centre. Rowing
sessions are offered for children with
physical, sensory and learning impairments.
Youths who come to have access to lifeimproving recreation and physical fitness
activity could one day find themselves
part of Great Britain’s Paralympic success.
■ Lisa Lynam
2008 Paralympic Champion
Helene Raynsford training on
the Redgrave-Pinsent Lake in
Caversham, Great Britain.
coaches
Paralympics
Tom Aggar – Paralympic Champion
© 2008 Feng Li/Getty Images
Tom Aggar’s new title is a big change. One that the 24-year-old London native found came on to him with a speed similar
to his resounding victories.
Tom Aggar of Great Britain
celebrates his gold medal at
the 2008 Paralympic Games in
Beijing, China.
In a short period of just 12 months,
Aggar, who rows in the men’s arms
only single sculls, catapulted to the
top of the Paralympic rowing world.
After his first international race at
the 2007 World Rowing Cham­
pionships in Munich, Aggar not
only won a world title, but set a new
adap­tive World Best Time (5:13.13)
over the 1000m distance that left
two-time World Champion
Dominic Monypenny
behind in silver. In
September 2008,
Aggar broke his
own World Best Time
when racing in the heat at the
first ever Paralympic Rowing Regatta
(5:12.25). He then went on to win the first ever
Paralympic gold in his boat class.
Big change is nothing new, however, for the
former Warwick University rugby player. In
2005, his life was transformed in an instant
when he had an unfortunate fall that left him
with a broken back and paralysis in his legs.
Within a year Aggar had found rowing as part
of his rehabilitation.
“I started rowing about a year after sustaining
my injury, mainly to keep fit and for my own
personal enjoyment,” says Aggar.
He soon found his competitive spirit sparked.
“I entered the 2006 British Indoor Rowing
Championships in the adaptive event and it
was from there I was introduced to some of
the coaching staff and began to get out on
the water. I was hooked and set my sights on
selection for the 2007 World Champs. From
there I began training under the GB setup.”
The 189cm, 84kg Aggar found the rigors of
training – a routine of twice daily workouts
six days a week, including weights and other
cross-training like handcycling and swimming
– a challenge that required “complete and
utter dedication”.
very tough physically and different from the
rowing machine because of the balance and
oar handling. “When I started I couldn’t keep
the boat straight.”
In just over a year, however, Aggar was
amazed to find himself rowing straight down
the Beijing course to Paralympic gold and
his family there to cheer him on. The high
expectations, however, weighed heavy.
“I think the pressure was much greater for me
going into the Paralympic regatta, especially
going in as World Champion and being
undefeated all year.”
As he celebrated his new title during the
closing ceremony, Aggar looked forward
to 2012: “There was also a lot of excitement
with the handover knowing the Games will
be held in London.”
■ Lisa Lynam
“It’s definitely one of the tougher sports
out there, but I enjoyed the challenge,” says
Aggar. He also found getting on the water
32
Coaching
Understanding Olaf
Bringing out the best in the single-minded single sculler requires a different set of
skills as a coach. No one knows this better than Norway’s Tore Ovrebo. Ovrebo is
the coach of two-time Olympic Champion Olaf Tufte.
Norway is in a unique rowing situation - it
does not have a large population and the
group of elite rowing athletes is tiny. Tufte
is essentially in a single because, at his level,
there is no one else for him to row with.
Ovrebo has used this unique situation to help
lead Tufte to back-to-back Olympic golds.
Tufte believes in sticking to what works for
him, and Ovrebo respects this.
© 2008 Getty Images
33
“It’s the boat speed that counts,” says Ovrebo.
“I don’t have one picture. I like to develop the
individual’s stroke.” Ovrebo concedes that it
means different styles in a crew, but for Tufte
who is in the single, this is not a consideration.
Ovrebo says that as a coach of a skilled
athlete one of his main objectives is to work
with the athlete as a whole. This includes the
wholeness of the stroke as well as that of the
athlete’s entire life.
Olaf Tufte of Norway
Tufte’s rowing style has changed since Ovrebo
first saw him. “Olaf didn’t come from the
technical side; he came from the strength/
endurance side. His style has evolved through
the years. We have worked with the whole of
the stroke very systematically and now we
are close to the best stroke for Olaf. It uses his
strength to his advantage.”
Ovrebo is himself an Olympian and can draw
on his own national team experience as a rower
when coaching. He had barely finished with
elite rowing when he was pulled into coaching,
beginning at regional level. A year later, in 1992,
Ovrebo was brought in to assist the national
coach, the legendary Frank Hansen.
Tufte, a former motocross rider, first made
the national team in 1997 and that is when
Ovrebo, who had by then become the head
coach, began working with him. Stories
abound describing Tufte’s huge capacity
to work and train and his annual Farmers
Challenge sheds light on the physical nature
of Tufte’s life. Ovrebo soon recognised there
was no point in holding back on >>
© 2008 Getty Images/Johannes Simon/Bongarts
Coaching
Olaf Tufte of Norway racing at
the 2008 Rowing World Cup in
Munich, Germany.
Tufte’s training. He estimates that Tufte rows
5,000km a year – at least.
Ovrebo coached Tufte through to silver in the
double at the 2000 Olympics and then gold
in 2004 in the single. He then left his coaching
job and started working for Norway’s Olympic
Committee. Bjoern-inge Pettersen took over
as Norway’s head coach.
“For the last four years most of the day-to-day
training for Olaf has been with Bjoern-inge.
But my relationship with Olaf has developed
into a strong one so we have maintained
dialogue all along.” Pettersen took over Tufte’s
technical development and daily routine,
with Ovrebo coming in for regattas. “Nearer
to the Olympics in Beijing, we agreed that
my responsibility was Olaf’s wholeness, his
completeness.”
Apart from two coaches, a large team was
assembled behind Tufte leading to the Beijing
Olympics, including psychologists, strength
trainers and doctors. Ovrebo oversaw this
team and on race days became Tufte’s
manager. Because only one coach could be
accredited for the Beijing Olympics, Ovrebo,
34
as race manager, was the one that went to
Beijing with Tufte.
“Olaf had a heavy influence on that decision,”
says Ovrebo. “In the last part leading up to
Beijing, from Poznan (Rowing World Cup) on,
it was Olaf and me alone.”
Winning gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympic
Games required two very different approaches.
Leading up to Athens, Tufte was the favourite.
As the 2003 World Champion, all eyes were on
him to dominate at the Olympics.
The lead up to Beijing was significantly
different. For 2008, Tufte saw himself as the
outsider. “We did not define Olaf as defending
champion, we defined him as the challenger,
a dark horse,” says Ovrebo. “Olaf preferred it
this way. It did not mean less work but part of
his preparation was how to attack.”
In typical Tufte style, the sculler maintained
heavy training loads right through to the
last few weeks before Beijing. He was well
prepared. The respiratory problems that had
begun in 2004 were under control, he was
relishing the role of underdog and a second
Olympic gold was the reward.
■ M.S.B.
The Olympic Games
and developing countries
35
More than 65 percent of FISA’s members
are seriously struggling with financial
problems, lack of infrastructure, poor
club activities, partial or total lack of
government support, no coaching
education and, for our new members,
no rowing culture and tradition,
according to FISA’s Development
Director Thor Nilsen. They all come in
under the umbrella of “developing
countries”. As the quota system set by
the International Olympic Committee
limits the size of partici­pa­tion and
strongly emphasises universality at the
Olympic Games, these countries are
being given the possibility to compete
at the Olympics thanks to the system of
Continental Qualification.
The results list from the Olympic Games shows
great differences between the winners and
the crews in Finals C, D and E. Many athletes
and coaches from developed countries feel
discriminated against to see athletes with less
quality being given the honour to participate in
the world’s most prestigious sports event - the
Olympic Games. This is something we must
accept also in the future, and is it the price we
pay to be members of the Olympic family.
The Olympic Charter clearly highlights the
goal of universality and the need for countries
from all five continents to be represented.
Continental qualifications are accepted as the
best tool to reach this goal. After analyses of
population and participation, FISA decided to
reserve places in women’s and men’s singles,
and women’s and men’s lightweight double
sculls as continental qualification categories.
What are FISA doing to assist developing
countries for Olympic participation, and is
there any progress since the system started
more than 12 years ago?
FISA’s first priority is the development
of our sport; that means, in short, more
members, more participation in national,
continental and international competition
and championships and better quality
Haidar Nozad (b) and Hussein
Jebur (s) of Iraq compete in
the men’s double sculls at the
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
technically and physically. We feel we have
made progress in this work and, with 100 of
our 130 members participating in the process
for Olympic qualification, we are global and
have universality.
Next point is the quality of the rowers. Here
we must divide up the developing countries
in two groups:
1)Countries with a rowing tradition, but with
political and/or financial problems.
2)New members missing tradition and
infrastructure.
With Group One, FISA, in cooperation with
Olympic Solidarity, have identified talented
athletes and given them the possibility to
participate in training camps and international
regattas and championships. This has been
successful and we have seen some of >>
© 2008 Getty Images/Jonathan Ferrey
Development
Development
those athletes in Finals at the World Rowing
Championships and at the Olympic Games.
Group Two is our challenge, with limited or no
infrastructure, poor quality of equipment, no
rowing tradition and sometimes no training
tradition. The number of active rowers can be
only a handful and talent identification is just
a word without reality. In some parts of the
world nutrition is also an issue and limits the
possibility for proper training.
© 2008 Getty Images/Cameron Spencer
Again we have a strong cooperation with
Olympic Solidarity for national, regional and
continental courses and training camps. Boat
donations are a strong tool, and slowly the
infrastructure starts to develop. Our group
of development coaches focus on three
points; rowing technique, rigging and training
methodology. We also try to identify talents for
a more specific program, but this is not always
supported by the National Federations due to
local political problems or other priorities.
In Beijing, Iran saw its rowers
compete for the first time ever
at the Olympic Games. Female
rower Homa Hosseini was her
country’s flagbearer at the
Opening Ceremony of the 2008
Olympic Games.
At the Beijing Olympics, 21 of the participa­
ting countries were recognised as “developing
countries” and received assistance in one or
another form. Only Cuba reached the A Final
with one crew and two crews in the B Final,
but we must take into consideration that
Cuba has a long tradition in rowing, a good
national structure, but are fighting with
financial limitations.
The rest of the participants ended up in
Finals C to E and showed good racing and
a fighting spirit when they competed with
crews on their own level.
The main question is: have the developing
countries showed any progress in the last
12 years? If we look at the result lists, the
situation has not changed a lot, but if we look
at the technical level, the progress has been
massive.
During the Olympics I received many positive
comments about the technical level of our
developing crews from international coaches
following the races on their bikes. The crews
know how to row, even if the physical
performance is still behind international top
level. There is much reason for this: a limited
number of athletes to choose from, many are
missing a basic training background, they are
really amateurs who combine studies or work
with training, and they are missing international
experience. Such a platform doesn’t give selfconfidence but the experience they bring with
them back home will give a positive stimulus
for future progress.
So we are moving in the right direction
with good technical progress and better
understanding of physical requirements.
Remember that on the day they begin to
win medals they are no longer a developing
■ Thor S. Nilsen, FISA Development Director
country!
36
coaches
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Anita L. De Frantz
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Matt Smith
FISA is the governing body of the sport of
rowing and the oldest international sports federation in the
Olympic movement. Based in Lausanne, the Olympic capital,
FISA has 128 member federations worldwide, organises
World Championships, Olympic Regattas and World Cups
and promotes all forms of rowing. The opinions expressed in
this publication are not necessarily the opinions of the FISA
Council. Reprints permitted with acknowledgement of source.
Publisher
FISA
Marketing and
Communications
Manager
Marion Gallimore
Editor
Débora Feutren
World Rowing Journalist
Melissa S. Bray
Contributors
Lisa Lynam
Thomas Nickson
World Rowing Database
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Comprehensive athlete bios+stats
Detailed international results back to 1990
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Go to Results & Bios -> Athlete Bios
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Cover photo © Detlev Seyb, 2008 Getty Images, 2008 AFP, Igor Meijer
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