Staying involved after retirement

A retired Matthew Pinsent
© Pete Spurrier

Retirement. Usually it is associated with the presentation of a clock, drinks with co-workers and complimentary speeches. Usually it happens as people head towards their twilight years and the door to their pre-retirement life sometimes shuts completely.

For athletes retirement is different. Clocks rarely change hands and retirement seldom happens at an older age. Often it follows a four-year cycle with the majority of retirements occurring after the Olympic Games. Sometimes the retirement decision is inspired by injury, sometimes it comes after a level of success, and sometimes it is due to losing the winning desire, age or the pull of other commitments. Tennis player Martina Hingis had barely left her teenage years when she retired. Basketballer Michael Jordan chose retirement then missed the sport and came back before retiring for a second time. He then stayed involved by buying a team.

For rowers the door to the sport often remains wide open after retirement. It is not uncommon to see former athletes develop into coaches or stay involved by becoming active in sports administration. Sometimes they become mentors or officials. Many continue to row for enjoyment or new challenges.

Former German eight stroke, Roland Baar
© Getty Images

Denis Oswald during Olympic torch relay
© Getty Images

Earlier this week Great Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Matthew Pinsent announced his retirement from 15 years at the top level. But Pinsent’s involvement in rowing will quite certainly remain.

Already Pinsent has been approached regarding roles in the British Olympic Committee and the involvement in the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Jacques Rogge, IOC president recently told BBC sport, “I would definitely involve him through an IOC commission – that is something I have committed to him.” Pinsent will also take an active part in London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics.

FISA’s own President, Olympic bronze medallist and Swiss National team member for eight years, Denis Oswald has not only stayed involved directly in rowing but also indirectly through his many roles at the IOC. Oswald’s contribution was acknowledged when earlier this year he was recognised as being the fourth most influential personality of the Olympic year. Oswald is also president of ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations) and a judge at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Roland Baar raced in Germany’s eight to two Olympic medals before retiring after the Atlanta Olympics. He was elected to the IOC’s Athletes Commission in 1996 and became an IOC member in 1999. Baar also plays an active role in WADA, the World Anti-doping Agency, as an ambassador in the quest against drug use in sport.

FISA’s Vice-President Anita DeFrantz became involved in the administration of sport as soon as she stopped competing. DeFrantz rowed for the United States at the 1976 Olympics winning bronze in the women’s eight. On retirement DeFrantz joined the organising committee for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She then became involved in the IOC which led her to the vice presidency position from 1997 to 2001. DeFrantz continues to serve on numerous commissions including the IOC’s Women and Sports Commission.

The list of active former rowers continues with Italy’s Giuseppe Abbagnale who went from winning two Olympic golds and one silver to becoming Vice-President of the Italian Rowing Federation. Then there is two-time Olympic medallist, Henk Jan Zwolle of the Netherlands who now heads up the Amsterdam Organising Committee of the 2006 World Rowing Junior Championships. Zwolle’s former teammate, five-time Olympian Nico Rienks helps organise the Amsterdam’s Holland Beker Regatta as well as keeping his hand in the sport as a coach.

Rienks is also one of the many past elite rowers who redefined the term retirement by staying active on the water. Rienks competes regularly including an annual 200km race and often he finds himself racing against his former teammates.

Lining up at the start of the Masters World Championships this year was Germany’s two-time Olympic gold medallist in the single, Thomas Lange. Lange would not have been the only former Olympian to line up at the masters worlds. The list is long and also includes Great Britain’s Peter Haining who still races regularly.

Canada’s three-time Olympic gold medallist Marnie McBean has become a regular at the Head of the Charles race in Boston, United States where some of the teams are made up entirely of Olympic crews who unite yearly to race. The United States’ gold medal women’s eight from the 1984 Olympics still race competitively at the Charles every year.

Rowing has allowed retirement to be redefined. Walking away from the elite level of the sport has not always meant closing the door completely. The active involvement of many former rowing stars indicates how much the sport remains part of their lives.

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