Rowing shapes up for Beijing

Beijing regatta course plans

FISA Executive Director Matt Smith returned from a week-long visit to Beijing, China where he reviewed the progress of the 2008 Olympic rowing facilities and attended the 2005 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) General Assembly.

Smith writes; ?The Shunyi International Regatta Course is nearly one-third finished at this point. The Chinese are working seven days a week on this project.

The former Technical Director of Chinese Rowing in the 1990s, Liu Aijie has been promoted to deputy director of all Chinese Olympic water sports (sailing, canoeing and rowing), overseeing the technical aspects leading up to Beijing 2008.

The Chinese have hired several foreign coaches including national coaches Igor Grinko, formerly of the USSR and the USA, and former United States national team rower and coach Sean Hall. Grinko and Hall feel confident about the skill level in several boats including the women’s lightweight double and women’s eight which placed fourth at Athens. They also feel confident about producing a strong men’s eight leading up to Beijing.

The Chinese Water Sports department is nearly finished with construction of their new summer training centre in the north of China, not far from the Korean border, which will afford them good training conditions for the hot summer period. Their winter centre is in Guangzhou (formerly called Canton), not far from Hong Kong.

Liu Aijie

They will now establish a home away from home in Europe so that they can feel comfortable for the World Cups and World Championships in Europe with their own fleet of boats and trailer in Europe. They are also hiring top European and western scientists or matching Chinese medical professionals with western universities to stay in touch with all the latest developments in exercise physiology. Grinko and Hall feel that their limiting factor is to break through to the coaches and athletes’ mentality about training and competition. Grinko says at present the athletes believe too much in hard training but not enough yet on technique and feeling.?

Smith noted signs throughout Beijing advertising the Beijing 2008 Olympics and he says construction towers and cranes were everywhere in the city.

Smith also attended the IPC General Assembly which saw the re-election of Sir Philip Craven as president. Sir Philip was the keynote speaker at the World Rowing Forum in Turkey earlier this month. Of note at the General Assembly was the motion to allow seven more months of research into eligibility criteria for intellectually disabled athletes. In June 2006 the IPC Governing Board will receive a final report from their research panel before deciding if intellectually disabled athletes may be re-admitted in time for Beijing after being excluded following the Sydney Games.

?As rowing is one of the sports which currently includes intellectually disabled rowers, this is a very important issue for adaptive rowing. FISA will participate in the research and analysis leading up to the issuance of this report,? said Smith.

Rowing was very warmly welcomed at the IPC General Assembly as the new sport of the Paralympic Games programme for 2008.

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