HELLO, DO YOU SPEAK MANDARIN?
Team managers prepare for Beijing
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Two, three, sometimes four times. Rowing team managers from around the world have visited and revisited Beijing just to
make sure that they are prepared for every logistical consideration and potential situation that may confront their athletes
and staff. when it comes to competing at the olympic Games, team managers, like the athletes, will leave nothing to chance.
© Igor Meijer
Material logistics at rowing regattas require major planning and
organisation.
From the United States, team manager
Elpi Pagitsas has already visited four times.
“The transformation of the venue has been
fascinating to watch as every time I’ve
visited, a new element has been added or
has changed,” says Pagitsas who will visit
Beijing one final time this March before the
Olympics.
Costs for the entire project run high. Along
with transportation, food and accommodation for team members and support staff,
expenses include equipping the team for
racing, training and formal functions such
as the opening ceremony. There is also the
cost of shipping (or, in some cases, flying) the
boats to Beijing.
Already plans have been made to get the
boats to China’s Olympic city. Canada is
packing up and shipping them in May.
New Zealand and Australia similarly have an
early shipping date. Gwen Bakker, the Dutch
team manager, has an extra logistic step: the
team will first go to a training camp in South
Korea, requiring additional boats. Bakker
explains, “While we are training in Korea,
another set of boats will be transported to
Beijing.”
Canada’s team manager Adam Parfitt says
their team’s biggest chunk of spending goes
towards hotel accommodation. The Dutch
have an added expense of booking extra
accommodation close to the course so that
athletes can rest between training sessions.
For the Czechs, the biggest expense has
been in preparation. “We spent a lot of
money for big training camps during the
spring in the mountains,” says team manager
Premysl Panuska. >>
