Top Scullers to Share Their Skills

Their names are synonymous with winning, they all have Olympic gold medals and they are coming together to share their experiences. Swiss Olympic Champion Xeno Mueller has turned his rowing hands to coaching after retiring from elite competition earlier this year and in his first major gig Mueller has gathered together top former scullers, Germany’s Thomas Lange, Canada’s Marnie McBean and Rob Waddell of New Zealand.

The four share 10 Olympic medals between them and will be conducting a coaching clinic at Newport Beach, California over the second weekend of November.

Now in official (or unofficial) rowing retirement the four have moved on to new careers, but all of them have stayed someway involved in rowing.

Lange, Mueller and Waddell met when they competed in the single at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The three were at very different stages of their rowing careers. Lange was in his twilight years of competitive rowing after winning gold in the single at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. Mueller was at his peak moving on to his second Olympic Games after finishing twelfth in 1992 and Waddell was not only an Olympic newcomer but this was his first year of international competition in the single.

They raced. Mueller won, Lange finished with bronze and Waddell finished seventh. Also in Atlanta McBean competed in the double and quad adding gold and bronze medals to her collection of two Olympic golds from 1992.

Lange then retired while Mueller and Waddell continued to race each other through the late 1990s culminating in the 2000 Olympics where Waddell won gold and Mueller finished with silver.

Mueller continued to dabble in elite rowing switching to United States citizenship in an attempt to make the US 2004 Olympic team. Waddell meanwhile changed not only his sport but his body muscle mass to earn the position of grinder for the New Zealand America’s Cup sailing challenge. Sailing became Waddell’s full-time job.

Waddell’s wife, Sonia, pulled Waddell back into rowing. While Sonia competed on the water at the Athens Olympics, Waddell sat behind a microphone as New Zealand’s rowing commentator. Waddell is currently back sailing with Team New Zealand as they prepare to challenge for the 2007 America’s Cup.

After 1996 Lange finished his studies turning his rowing hands to plastic surgery and has since become a hand specialist. He continues to compete in rowing and last month won at the Masters World Regatta. Meanwhile McBean was forced into unofficial retirement on her way to the 2000 Sydney Olympics when a back injury took her out of the running only weeks before the Games were due to start.

McBean decided not to try a comeback. “I couldn’t find it in me to completely focus on rowing anymore? the desperation to win was not there anymore,” says McBean.

McBean still rows now and then but her main sporting focus has become adventure racing. “I like that it is really hard,” says McBean. “Outside of rowing I find that very few things are really hard.” McBean is also involved in Olympic Spirit Toronto, a new entertainment attraction in Canada.

The training camp will go from 12 – 14 November 2004 and Mueller has planned on and off the water training sessions as well as rigging information and presentations by the four coaches.

Mueller is looking forward to learning from Lange, Waddell and McBean. “It’ll be great to hear how they evolved during their time (as competitive rowers) especially as we overlap in times,” says Mueller.

Waddell also wants to hear what the others have to say, “I may not have finished rowing yet, so it will be good to know all of Xeno’s secrets if we end up racing sometime again.”

For more information on the camp go to www.gorow.com

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