tOP ROWeRS
© 2005 AFP
A fUn DUtch bOAt
fighting for more in the four
6
After Olympic silver at Athens, three dutchmen - a marketing analyst, an MBA student and an economics graduate - got out of
the eight and stepped into the four, with a medical doctor becoming the fourth, filling in the bow seat to complete the crew.
Geert Cirkel (29), Matthijs Vellenga (30), Jan-Willem Gabriels (28) and Gijs Vermeulen (26)
have yet to miss a podium position since
2005. They form one of the top crews in
their event leading up to Beijing. At the 2007
Rowing World Cup final in Lucerne, they were
the first to topple the British who had built
up a streak of 27 wins. At Munich, the Dutch
welcomed another WorldChampionship
medal ( bronze) into their medal collection.
customary either. "We’ll change a few things,"
is as much as they will reveal. One indication,
though, is their independent spirit: "We have
our own view of how we have to row; that’s
what we’re keen to do. We don’t copy our
competitors, otherwise we wouldn’t beat
them."
"only once"). And yet, in rowing, the Dutch
point out, the sense of rivalry is nearly nonexistent: "On the water, it is a six-minute fight,
but everyone is at ease with everyone else on
the ground. Performance is very professional
and competition is very honest."
The Dutch men’s four
competing at the 2005 World
Rowing Championships in
Gifu, Japan, where they would
earn silver.
The only race they truly want to win before
retiring is next year’s Olympic final. How they
plan to reach that goal is not a secret, they say,
but discussing their strategy in public is not
The main rivals the Dutch will be wary of
next year is New Zealand (who surprisingly
won this year’s World Championship title),
the Italians (whose performance clearly
improved during the racing season) and
Great Britain (whom the Netherlands
originally thought they would have to beat
"Addictive", is how the quartet describe
rowing. "It is a way of life. Once it gets you,
you have to give yourself to it fully." Day in,
day out, the rowers spend up to five hours
together daily at the Bosbaan in Amsterdam.
"At our age, we could be sitting in offices
earning money," says Gijs, who holds a
university degree in economics. "We don’t
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