Lenka Wech models for youth

At last month’s Youth Olympic Games rowing’s own Lenka Wech from Germany acted as an Athlete Role Model. Three-time Olympian Wech was nominated by FISA to be an Athlete Role Model and Wech admits that before arriving in Singapore she was not quite sure what it would mean.

“The idea (of athlete role models) doesn’t exist in Germany,” says Wech. “I really enjoyed interacting with the “Olympians of tomorrow”.  They didn’t ask that many questions and when they did it was more about my sports career, not about combining with studies.”

A large part of the Youth Olympic experience was culture and education and Wech spoke at a workshop as part of the Cultural and Education programme about “sport and career balance.” Now a medical doctor, Wech studied while she rowed and said she would advise young athletes to follow their Olympic dream.

“I would say go with your sport, learn as much as possible and aim for the Olympic Games because it’s such a good experience,” says Wech. “Train hard but there is also a lot of fun about it; it should not only be about going and winning a medal.”

“The Athlete Role Models had a good meeting with Jacques Rogge where we dicussed the programme and the possible changes. All in all everyone thought it was a great programme,” says Wech. “The feedback we got from the athletes was positive overall.”

Wech stayed on after the rowing segment of the Youth Olympic Games had finished and helped organise a rowing machine competition. With the help of local volunteers and FISA Youth Commission member Guin Batten, rowing moved into the Youth Olympic Village in the form of two challenges. The first was a power sprint of 100m and the second was a mixed team change race over 2000m.

Batten explains, “The Challenge was a part of the Singapore Culture and Education Programme and designed to encourage the athletes from other sports to experience rowing and to mix with each other.”

“We had athletes from other events as well as rowers competing for the fastest time of the day,” says Wech. “It was spectacular! Especially when a Chinese shot putter sat on the erg and we feared that this would be the end of the short ergometer’s life…”

The best male rower was Rolandas Mascinskas of Lithuania finishing in a quick 14.5 seconds. In the women’s challenge Ana-Maria Gigica of Romania tied for first with Judith Sievers of Germany in a time of 18.1 seconds. A Croatian/Serbian composite team won the team event finishing in 5’59”.

Wech adds, “For me the Youth Olympic Games has been an unforgettable experience. By talking to these young athletes about the value of the Olympic Games I also reflected once more about my career and it made me once more appreciate what I have learnt from my experiences. I hope I managed to light a spark in someone’s mind and motivate them to pursue their careers.”

Watch Wech demonstrate rowing backwards to the Youth Guru on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ997NNPVgc.

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