Rowing’s first Beijing Olympic qualifiers

By Melissa Bray

In amongst the 9,700 athletes presently competing at the 9th All Africa Games, a group of rowers – 144 in all from 14 African nations – have just completed their three days of competition.

In amongst those 144 athletes, 11 have qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

At the rowing course, the Barrage de Boukourdane-Tipaza, in host city Algiers, the capital of Algeria, three days of racing has revealed the qualifiers. The three available places in the women’s single have gone to Rika Geyser of South Africa, Ibtissem Trimech of Tunisia and Imen Mustapha of Egypt.

Geyser, 28, has been competing on the international stage since 1999 and was aiming for the 2004 Olympics in the pair. After missing out on qualification Geyser changed to the single. Trimech, a regular competitor in the lightweight single, is gearing up for her third Olympic Games. The 25-year-old made history when she became the first international rowing medallist for Tunisia at the 2003 Munich Rowing World Cup. Mustapha rounds out the single qualifiers.

The men’s single had four boats allocated to qualify with Aly Ibrahim of Egypt finishing first. Ibrahim is an Olympic pro. Beijing will be his fourth Olympics with his best result being 8th place at the 1996 Atlanta Games behind Rob Waddell. In between competing in the single Ibrahim has dabbled in the quad and eight for his country. South Africa’s Shaun Keeling finished second and will be off to his first Olympics at the age of 20. Keeling goes directly from finishing 8th at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships last year, to fronting up with the best in the world.

Behind Keeling, Algeria’s Chaouki Dries will put aside his lightweight single and double competition to be his country’s representative in the men’s single. The final qualifier from this event, Sahbi Khardani of Tunisia, most recently competed internationally in the lightweight double.

The one qualifier for the Olympic lightweight men’s double event goes to Algeria. Mohamed Garidi started competing internationally in this event in 1998 and Beijing will be his first Olympic Games. His partner Kamel Ait Daoud, 22, is in his first year on Algeria’s national team.

The single qualification spot in the lightweight women’s double goes to South Africa. Alexandra White and Catherine Shaw first rowed together at the 2003 World Rowing Under 23 Regatta. This was White’s first international appearance. Shaw’s experience goes back to racing as a junior in 1999.

South Africa's athletes now must wait for official confirmation from their National Olympic Committee on whether they will be allowed to represent their country at Beijing.

The next stop for Beijing Olympic qualification will be the World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany from 26 August to 2 September. At this event any country can aim to qualify.  

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