Success and Basalini

The 2005 top 10 athletes list is heavy on the number of Italian men and adding to the list in eighth position is the multi-medallist Stefano Basalini. Basalini can boast a run of international medal winning that began in 1996 with barely a break for the next seven years. In that time the Italian lightweight sensation won four World Champion titles, two silvers and two World Under 23 medals.

Basalini has taken only one break from rowing since he began as a 14-year-old – five months in 2000 when he lost selection due to a broken rib.

Squeezing in a question-answer session around his training at Italy’s national rowing centre in Piediluco, Basalini talks about his world of rowing.

The 28-year-old started rowing when his father suggested it to him and he says that at the time he knew little about the sport.

“When I was young, I wasn't interested in sport, especially in rowing, I didn't know about it.” Basalini says that he has no individuals in the field that inspire him as a rower but he counts many rowers as his friends.

Basalini bases himself in Pavia, near Milan. It is also where he completed his degree in natural science. “During the week I row on a river, but not much, then I go to my parents’ home on the beautiful Lake of Orta and row there. The Lake of Orta is perfect for rowing.”

Basalini’s favourite boat is the single. “It gives me more freedom,” he says. He counts his best race as the first time he became World Champion in the lightweight single. “At the 1998 World Rowing Championships single race, I didn’t hope to win, but I did a perfect race.”

His favourite workout reflects his dedication to the single: "I prefer to row on water alone, without wind and waves and thought!” The Armada Cup in Switzerland has become his signature race – 9 km alone, just him and his single. He also loves the Italian sculling challenge which he claims as his race.

But the one thing that has eluded Basalini is the Olympic Games. Competing predominantly in the single for most of his rowing career, Basalini teamed up last year with Leonardo Pettinari to compete in the Olympic event, the lightweight double. The duo finished fourth at last year’s World Rowing Championships and are in the Italian lightweight mix again this year.

Currently Basalini trains full time and he has every intention of continuing on to Beijing 2008, with one reservation: it depends on what happens during this year's racing season.

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