The Brain Behind Australian Rowing: Allan Hahn

Australia’s Allan Hahn
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His impressive 19-paged resume is incomplete. It finishes with the statement,  “needs to be updated – particularly in relation to EPO research.” Dr. Allan Hahn is a busy man. He has just been named the leading “brain” in Australian sport and his work spans a plethora of rowing research that is behind much of Australia’s success in the sport.

The exercise physiologist from Melbourne came to the Australia Institute of Sport in Canberra after completing his PhD in exercise-induced asthma. Hahn’s arrival coincided with the addition of rowing to the Institute’s programme in 1985. “I’ve never been a rower. I was simply allocated to work with them,” says Hahn. This was the beginning of an interest that developed into a passion, with Hahn traveling to regattas and getting personally involved in the progress of some of Australia’s top rowers.

Hahn’s work spans an array of interests that include everything from exercise-induced asthma, to altitude training, to the adaptation of athletes to heat and humidity, to vitamin and mineral supplement use and to his most prized talent: the identification of champion rowers.

Of his long list of achievements Hahn puts the rowing identification programme at the top of most satisfying achievements. Using a mixture of body dimensions and strength endurance tests amongst high school students, Hahn was part of the system that saw positive results within the first year.
The programme was initiated in the late 1980’s and came to fruition in a gold medal win by the Australian women’s pair of Kate Slatter and Megan Still at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Recognition of Hahn’s involvement and contribution was highlighted when the pair christened their boat the “Allan Hahn.”

Selected as the winner of the sports category in the top ten of the Bulletin’s Inaugural Smart 100 in Australia, Hahn was initially unaware of the recognition. “I first found out because Robyn (Hahn’s secretary) told me to keep the date free, but she didn’t tell me why.”  The unassuming Hahn sees the award as recognition of his colleagues that have worked on his many projects. He points especially to the first director of the Australian Institute of sport, Dick Telford. “The direction he set was visionary,” says Hahn.  The finalists also included Australia’s coach of the women’s quad, Lyall McCarthy.

FISA’s John Boultbee describes Hahn as a quiet, shy and tireless worker. “Rowing has been lucky that he got involved in it,” says Boultbee.

Hahn continues to be involved in rowing with research into micro-technology. This takes lab measurements into the field and looks at methods to better quantify training practices. The idea is to develop devices that are unobtrusive, that can be used with little inconvenience to the athlete in recording physiological characteristics. “We want to measure how a person is responding to training methods using less invasive devices,” says Hahn. The idea also is to record individual results while they are working in a team boat situation.

Hahn believes that rowers will continue to get faster. “They are still a long way from plateauing,” says Hahn. “I think equipment and training methods will continue to improve.”