El Salvador secures Borchi

Borchi moves to El Salvador
© Carlos Felipe Flores

Ask anyone to list South America’s most influential rowing coaches and Argentina’s Osvaldo Borchi will be on the list.

Recently hired as El Salvador’s new national coach Borchi comes into the role with a long list of rowing accomplishments.

“He has brought all his energy and enthusiasm,” says FISA’s North American representative and El Salvadorian, Eduardo Palomo.

El Salvador’s Rowing President, Eduardo Palomo

Arriving in January Borchi hit the ground running. “He took the national team this morning to the beach where they were going to run 40K,” describes an impressed Palomo.

Born in Argentina, Borchi started coaching at high school where he helped his fellow classmates prepare for interschool competitions. Since then Borchi’s coaching influence has covered the length of South America including roles at different times as the national team coach for Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Uruguay.

“As a technician I went through all levels from working with children to working with seniors,” says Borchi as his coaching career heads into its fourth decade. 

To count up Borchi’s medal winning crews is a huge record in itself and includes a weighty 56 Pan American gold medals as well as 72 golds at the South American Championships, between 1993 and 1999 alone.

Borchi has been part of medal success at the Rowing World Cup and World Rowing Championship level and as a coach he has participated in six Pan American and five Olympic Games.

Santiago Fernandez from Argentina races in the heat in Athens

The list of athletes that Borchi has coached reads like a who’s who of South American rowers. Among them are Sergio Fernandez and Maria Garisoain – both two-time Olympians.

Borchi’s qualities as a coach are further reflected in the dedication of his athletes.

“In my opinion, the best thing a coach or teacher has to show for is the devotion and trust of his rowers,” says Palomo. “Two of his rowers from Uruguay are planning on coming here to El Salvador to train with us.”

Borchi thinks hard when trying to understand his success. “I think my best virtue is that I am a motivator and I can help rowers give their very best, independently from the circumstances they find themselves in,” he says.

“In all these years in rowing, I’ve tried to observe and listen to those who know, and to constantly copy those who are successful. Among them I can name Thor Nilsen (FISA’s Development Director) and Ricardo Ibarra (FISA’s Development Consultant).”

“Having the chance of being useful to the FISA Development Program has been a great satisfaction for me. I hope to continue with the development of rowing wherever I go.”

“Rowing is my life.”

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