On the edge; the lightweight men’s double sculls

Men’s lightweight rowing was first introduced to World Rowing Championships in 1974 but it did not become an Olympic category until the 1996 Games in Atlanta. The history thus, in rowing terms, may be short, but it has been filled with some of the most exciting races our sport has ever seen.

There are two main factors that make lightweight rowing so highly competitive. Firstly, there is a maximum possibility of six Olympic places open to lightweight men from each nation; the lightweight four and the lightweight double sculls. This makes each of the seats immensely difficult to secure at the national level. Secondly, each crew has to be at a 70kg average weight. This means that every man racing in the lightweight double is very close in size.

Being a lightweight adds an extra dimension to the life of an elite rower. The issue of a weight limit means that there is an ongoing balancing act between staying at or near the required weight and eating enough food to handle the physical exertion. ‘Living on the razor’ as it is sometimes described, means that lightweight rowers live on the edge of optimal performance and physically crashing.

Just like lightweight rowing itself, the lightweight double is complex. It is not always the fastest two single scullers who will make the fastest double. It takes time to find the perfect combination. Being similar in physical make-up often helps, as brother Markus and Michael Gier of Switzerland showed when they won the first ever Olympic gold medal in the lightweight double at the 1996 Olympics.

Once a winning formula is found for the double it can be difficult to break their success. The combination of Tomasz Kucharski and Robert Sycz is the reason behind Poland being ranked at the top of the Olympic medal table in the  lightweight double. They first stepped onto the winners podium in 1997 at the World Championships. When they won gold again in 1998 it was clear that they were special. The Sydney Olympics confirmed this when Kucharski and Sycz won. However, there was one crew who never let Poland take an easy victory. The Italians (Elia Luini and Leonardo Pettinari) kept the Polish double company on the podium since 1997 and stood next to Kucharski and Sycz on the Sydney podium also. It was a great rivalry.

During the three years between the Sydney and Athens Olympiads, Luini and Pettinari prevented Kucharski and Sycz from taking top honours at the World Championships. Each year the Italians showed that they too had found a combination capable of being the world’s best. Their victories over the Polish duo were convincing, leading them over the line by at least 2.5 seconds at each World Championships.

Italy went into the 2004 Olympics as the favourites to take gold. However, the Olympic Regatta did not go to plan for the Italians. They found themselves in the B-final leaving the podium free for the Polish to add another Olympic gold to their achievements. These Olympics also marked the end of the intense rivalry between the two nations.

In the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics there was more of a mixture of winners, with no one duo completely taking charge. Athens fourth place finishers, Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist of Denmark reigned supreme at both the 2006 and 2007 World Championship. The Italians, French and Greeks remained contenders for Olympic glory too. But few predicted what 2007’s bronze medallists from Great Britain had in store.

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter of Great Britain started the 2008 season as they meant to go on.  Winning all three World Cup regattas they suddenly shot to the top of the favourites list for the Beijing Games. Hunter and Purchase dealt with the pressure against their more experienced competition well and they not only became the first British lightweight crew in an A-final at the Olympic Games, but also the first British lightweight Olympic gold medallists.

The  lightweight men’s double is set to be one of the most highly contested events at the London Olympics this summer. Since the Beijing Games a rivalry has begun between three nations in particular, Great Britain, New Zealand and Italy. The podium has remained exclusively theirs since the 2009 World Rowing Championships.

After a year away from the double in 2009, Hunter and Purchase have had somewhat of a turbulent time but they retained their World Champion status in 2010 and 2011. Italy’s lightweight double specialist, Luini, has partnered with Lorenzo Bertini to form at crew that will mount a strong challenge in London.

Perhaps the biggest threat to Great Britain’s attempt to be double Olympic Champions will come from the southern hemisphere. New Zealand’s Storm Uru and Peter Taylor have made impressive progress since their seventh place finish in Beijing. In 2009 they became World Champions. They have remained on the World Championship podium throughout this Olympiad, finishing the 2011 season as winners of the World Rowing Cup series and they took silver at the World Rowing Championships. Taylor’s philosophy coming into the 2012 season is simple; “It’s all about keeping our heads down, working hard and doing what our coach tells us to do. We trust our programme and our coaches, so it’s a ‘take it day by day’ environment.”

The build-up for Olympic gold in the  lightweight men’s double sculls gets underway at the first Samsung World Rowing Cup in Belgrade from 3 – 6 May, 2012.

Did you know?

• Two  lightweight men’s double places for the London Olympics are still available at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in May.
• Switzerland’s Gier brothers were the only reigning World Champions to go on to win Olympic gold the following year.