Hats off to Konrad, Marek, Michal, Adam and Ekaterina for 2006 excellence

By Melissa Bray
At the 2006 World Rowing Coaches Conference in Cyprus, in front of rowing coaches and administrators from around the world, the best in the world of rowing for the year were honoured.

World Rowing celebrates the Polish men’s quad Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowicz, Michal Jelinski and Adam Korol as 2006 FISA Male Crew of the Year and Belarus’s best single sculler, Ekaterina Karsten, as the 2006 FISA Female Crew/Rower of the Year.

Crossing the line in gold medal position for Konrad, Marek, Michal and Adam at the 2005 World Rowing Championships gave Poland the first ever World Championship title in the men’s quad. Going one better and successfully defending their title this year puts these four rowers into the Polish record books. Now taking home the 2006 FISA Award gives them the highest award a Polish crew has ever received.

Under the guidance of coach Alex Wojciechowski, who has worked with members of the group since 2001, the four men first came together after the Athens Olympics. The mixture of youth and experience – their ages span a 13-year period – proved effective.

The quad became the stars of the second Rowing World Cup this year when they turned it all on for their home crowd, winning gold and setting a new World Best Time at Poznan.

With the help of Polish Rowing President, Ryszard Stadniuk, translating for the crew, Athens and Sydney veteran Marek announced their intentions for the next Olympic Games, promising to turn around the fourth place in 2004, “We will do everything to be in the highest position in Beijing.”

Their chances are looking good as sitting in bow, the youngest member, Konrad, is already known as “the lucky man".

The soft-spoken Ekaterina’s 185cm frame towered over master of ceremonies and former coxswain John Boultbee, as well as FISA’s Events Director and Olympic medallist and translator, Svetla Otzetova.

The Belarusian, who shares her time between Germany and Belarus as well as travelling to numerous regattas, is a professional athlete.Ever since being discovered and chosen for rowing as a 13-year-old, Ekaterina has been winning medals.

She jumped quickly from a 1990 junior gold in the single directly into the senior category taking bronze in the double the following year. Ekaterina followed this up with an Olympic bronze as a member of her country’s quad (1992). Three Olympic medals later, two of them gold, Ekaterina remains at the top of her game. She has held command of the single for the last two years taking back to back World Championship titles.

Asked how many kilometres she had rowed so far in her career, Karsten broke into a smile, “a lot,” willingly admitting that the kilometres she liked the most was the 2km at Atlanta that finished with gold.

Ekaterina also got to enjoy this year’s World Championships. “It was very easy.”

And the future? “I will prepare myself for Beijing. London for the moment I am 90 percent sure I will be there.” Ekaterina could well celebrate Olympics number six in 2012.

The World Rowing team values feedback.