Creating change in the age-old sport of rowing is a lesson in hard work. It demands identifying
the depth of your passion for the sport and your level of tenacity. No one knows this better than
Penny Chuter.
On the eve of her retirement from
FISA’s competitive commission,
the pioneering athlete-coach-administrator spoke candidly
about the trials and tribulations
of her 47-year involvement in the
sport.
© Peter Spurrier / Intersport - Images
that took me to the regatta (Berlin
Gruenau). I had to race one hour
later. I won.”
Logistical issues just to get the
chance to race internationally
were taxing. “I had a mountain to
climb and that mountain detracted
from my training.”
The crew was selected and went
on to win silver at the 1978
World Rowing Championships.
Chuter recalls listening to the
commentator when the pair raced
in the final.
At just 22 years old Chuter retired
from competition. She realised
she was spending more time on
logistics than on rowing.
“I heard the commentator say,
‘They’ve got a new coach and
she’s a woman too,’ as though this
meant they had an anchor tied to
their stern!”
“Effectively it’s (1000 metres)
almost a sprint. It’s more
anaerobic. The historical argument
was that women couldn’t possibly
race for more than 1000 metres.
People got so emotional about
it.” Chuter says opposition came
not from the athletes but from
the administration – women and
men.
In 1985 women began racing
2000 metres.
“I was asked on the plane home to
be the men’s head coach.”
“Why did I push? Because I love
rowing.”
Chuter is no stranger to pushing
for change. She is no stranger to
going out on a limb. She has had
to do this ever since she became
a single sculler competing for
Great Britain in a sporting world
dominated by men and Eastern
European countries.
Chuter moved to education gaining
a physical education degree and
turning her hand to teaching.
Seven years into teaching Chuter
took a rowing coaching course.
The timing coincided with the
British Rowing Association
starting up the first women’s
squad. “Someone suggested that I
should apply.” It was 1973.
Chuter played a part in many
other changes in the sport.
As performance director she
redesigned the training, selection
methods and management of
British rowing, in the process
facing resistance from some
coaches and athletes.
M.S.B.■
Major recognitions
Coached crews for every World
Rowing Championships and Olympic
Games between 1974-1983
OBE: Order of the British Empire, for
services to British Rowing (1989)
Inducted into the UK sports Hall of
Fame (2003)
ARA Medal of Honour, outstanding
contribution to international rowing
(2006)
FISA Distinguished Service to
International Rowing (2006)
Take her trip to East Germany
as an example. Chuter was Great
Britain’s top woman single sculler
and as a competitive 19-year-old
who just wanted to get some good
racing competition she accepted
an invitation to row behind the
Iron Curtain.
Being chosen as the women’s
coach Chuter met the national
men’s coach, Bob Janousek, who
would become her first mentor.
“Today,” says Chuter, “the athletes
in the British system know no
different.”
“I went by myself,” describes
Chuter. “My mother had
nightmares worrying about
me, but both my parents were
supportive of my rowing.”
“Bob said to me, ‘you will be up
against opposition just because
you’re a woman. I can’t help you
out here, I have my own problems
(Janousek had escaped from
Czechoslovakia and was dealing
with the issues of being an East
European immigrant). All you
can do is push on.’”
Chuter was also at the forefront
of pushing for women’s races to
move from 1000 to 2000 metres.
“I started campaigning for the
change in 1975,” says Chuter.
“I took my sculls on the plane
but had to borrow a boat. When I
arrived, I couldn’t take my sculls
on the underground or in a taxi. I
finally got to Checkpoint Charlie
by bus and they (the American
soldiers) wouldn’t let me cross
into East Germany. I said, ‘you
can’t stop me. I’m going to walk
across.’ They let me through but
by this time I was so late (by four
or five hours) that the people there
to meet me had gone.”
“All I had was my suitcase,
my sculls and a few west
deutschmarks. I found an old taxi
When Janousek moved on, some
thought that Chuter was by all
rights the next in line for the
position. It didn’t happen. “In the
1970s British rowing wasn’t ready
for a woman in that position.”
Chuter then describes what she
calls her lucky break. In 1978
Great Britain’s men’s pair were
having a bad season, unselected for
that year’s World Championships.
They had one more chance at
selection and they asked Chuter
to coach them.
