FeATUre
© 2004 AFP
Estonian Jueri Jaanson at the
2004 Olympic Games in Athens,
Greece.
JuERi JaanSon:
Estonia’s rowing royalty, but don’t mention his age!
9
They are a small group of rowers – all scullers – in a sparsely populated country but at every international event the name estonia is visible in the A
Final results. Much of this exposure can be ascribed to rowing’s tenacious stalwart Jueri Jaanson.
Jaanson earned his first – and only – World
Championship title rowing as part of the
Soviet Union. In 1990 he won the single as
a 24-year-old. He then switched to the blue,
black and white Estonian colours following
the country’s independence in 1993. And
thus continued the long and mixed career
of this single sculler.
As an Estonian it took Jaanson until 1995
to win another medal. This time it was
silver at the World Rowing Championships.
Jaanson was not to see an A Final, let alone
the medals podium, for another five years.
At the 2000 Olympics, still racing the single,
Jaanson scraped through to a sixth place
finish.
After the Sydney Olympics and now a 34-
year-old, Jaanson wondered if it was time to
call it a day. At this stage Jaanson did not feel
the support of his federation and was already
considered an old athlete. He looked to his
former coach from Soviet times, Igor Grinko,
now coaching in the United States, for advice.
“Knowing his potential I advised him to come
and train with me,” says Grinko.
Jaanson started working again under Grinko
with the 2004 Olympics as the goal. At Athens
– and his fourth Olympic Games – Jaanson
won his first Olympic medal. The 38-year-old
took silver in the very tough men’s single event.
Estonia saw him in a new light. The following
year Jaanson returned to train in Estonia
and, for just the second time in his career, he
competed in a team boat. At the 2005 World
Rowing Championships Jaanson helped the
Estonian team win bronze in the men’s quad.
This was Jaanson’s first World Championship
medal in 10 years and the best result ever
accomplished by Estonia in a team event.
