rowers tell us in their own words what it was like for them to be in Beijing. Here are
some extracts from their blogs as well as direct quotes...
27
olympic preparation
“I think that throughout history every athlete
at every Olympic Games will have wanted
to crawl under a rock and hide until it’s all
over at some point in their preparation. It
is difficult not to when you know how big
and important one race is. Whether it is
9. 7 seconds or 2. 5 hours long, you know
that other people who are the best in their
country, at the peak of their form, are trying
to take what you want most in the world; the
one thing that you have been working so
hard for, for more than four years.” – Peter Reed
(Great Britain), Olympic Champion, men’s four
a long time. I think we were really confident
and serene in our ability to have a good
race. I felt composed, full of huge content.”
– JulienBahain (France), Olympic bronze
medallist, men’s quadruple sculls
the stroke to produce more speed, so that I
could build up to my desperate sprint in the
finish. I know I have that in me so now is the
time.’ – Olaf Tufte (Norway), Olympic Champion,
men’s single
New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale
being helped off the water by
a rescue team after racing the
men’s single sculls Final at the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
“Today is a very special day. It is race day.
Shortly after waking up this morning, I could
feel the mini-nuclear reactor in my stomach
starting to fire up, getting ready to turn the
turbines. I run into my teammates in the hotel
room hallway and I can sense that they are
feeling the same thing. Again.” – Adam Kreek
(Canada), Olympic Champion, men’s eight
“Reaching today’s Final was far from
guaranteed, and making it to the podium
even less so. We rowed the last 250m with
our hearts as we had no strength left - it was
worth it.” – Rossano Galtarossa (Italy), Olympic
silver medallist, men’s quadruple sculls
Before the race
“Some who know me will tend to think
I must have been jumping up and down all
night long and not have closed my eyes a bit
the night before the Final, but in the end it
was one of the best nights I had ever had for
racing to the finish line
“And then my coach came in my head: ‘Dare
to believe in yourself and start to do your
finish before you think you should. Just do it.
I started to count 10 strokes at the time and
started putting in more power at the end of
the medal ceremony
“I was incapable of even rowing a stroke
after the finish, I sat there bent over trying to
recover, it wasn’t happening and thankfully
the rescue boat was soon there to help.
When you’re in that state all you want to do
is be away from everyone so no one can see
you, so they took me to the last place >>
