Take four skilled italian rowers. stick them in a four
together just a couple of months before the world Rowing
championships, and what do you get? a truly deserved
silver medal.
the Italian men’s four
That was the result after Italy’s head coach
AndreaCoppola decided the men’s eight
was not delivering the winning answers early
last season. The eight had gone from silver in
2006 to a B-Final finish and Coppola needed
to reassess his plans. Breaking up the eight
and racing two fours against each other
gave Coppola the answer he was seeking.
Alessio Sartori, Lorenzo Carboncini together
with brothers Carlo and Niccolo Mornati,
became Italy’s flagship crew and a four to be
reckoned with.
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The crew had every reason to believe they
were worthy medal contenders. “All together
we can put on the table 26 World
Championship medals and four
Olympic medals,” the crew
explained. “It would have been
strange to come back home [after
the World Rowing Champion-ships] with empty hands.”
Carboncini has spent most of his
career racing in the four but also
dabbled in the eight. Now his
masterful rhythm has been called
upon to lead the crew as stroke. A
two-time Olympian and in his
twenty-third year as a rower,
Carboncini was part of the
Sydney 2000 Olympic
silver medal crew, along
with Carlo Mornati.
Lorenzo Carboncini (l),
Niccolo Mornati, Alessio Sartori
and Carlo Mornati (r) celebrate
their second place in the men’s
four at the 2007 World Rowing
Championships, in Munich,
Germany.
The four have remained
together ever since last
year’s World Rowing
Championships and
there is every indication
that they will be the crew
chosen for Beijing. But
the team cautions: “We
hope so. The final line-
up will be made after
the Rowing World
Cup races.”
The senior Mornati,
Carlo, went to his
first Olympics in 1996
where he finished
sixth in the four. Since
then Mornati has >>
