Every country has its own unique circumstances when it comes to
arranging training and selecting their national team. Everything
from climate, population, geography and athlete mentality needs
to be taken into account.
Germany
World Rowing examines three countries from three different
regions of the world. These are strong rowing nations, but with
very different circumstances: Germany, united States and New
Zealand. We ask the question, how are the national team athletes
selected for the World Rowing Championships?
neither were gold. After the Beijing Olympics the
German Rowing Association looked inward. They
have restructured and hired a new head coach,
Hartmut Buschbacher.
Selection continues through the summer
international racing season with the final World
Championship team selected just a couple of weeks
before the actual event at the end of August.
united, they faced
the challenges of forming one
common system out of two.
Germany has the largest number of rowers in one
country in the world. This includes a sizeable amount
engaged in recreational rowing, or “Wanderrudern”.
The German Rowing Federation’s slogan, “Rowing,
a sport for everybody aged 8-80”, is truly accurate.
Siegfried Kaidel, president of the German Rowing
Federation, said the reorganisation was to bring
Germany back to being
the best rowing nation
in the world by the 2012
Olympics and this goal was
already being tackled in
earnest last November. More than
350 rowers raced at initial trials over a 6,000m
distance in pairs and singles. In the women’s
single alone there were 41 triallists.
There are three to four training camps held
throughout the year for top athletes. Individual
crews or squads have their own camps in a
variety of locations as determined by the relevant
coaches. This year, for the first time, Buschbacher
is bringing the entire team together at the
Ratzeburg centre for a final camp just before the
World Rowing Championships.
© 2005 Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images
At the elite level, the country currently has seven
training bases: Berlin, Ratzeburg-Hamburg,
Saarbrücken, Potsdam, Halle-Magdeburg, Rostock
and Dortmund.
Rowing World Cup regattas are used as part of
the selection process. Coaches enter more than
one boat in some classes to test combinations
and evaluate crew speed under true international
racing conditions.
Despite continued success, which has included
virtual domination at the junior level, the
German system faltered at the Beijing Olympic
Games where just two medals were won and
Already late last year athletes had 2km and
6km erg tests and Buschbacher has also used
2,000m on-the-water trials in singles or pairs to
work on continued selection. Early season erg
tests are held at training centres throughout
Germany, while on-the-water rowing trials are
held centrally. This means that athletes are not
currently full-time residents at training centres.
As this is the first year of the new Olympic
cycle, there are no full-time athletes except for
a few who are paid for by the police or army.
The majority of athletes are students. >
Oars of the German national
rowing team.
