07 Dec 2011
Waleska, rowing her way into the single
Peggy Waleska rowing in the single at the 2005 Rowing World Cup at Munich, Germany
Peggy Waleska celebrates her birthday on 11 April and even though she turns just 26, Waleska already has 17 years of rowing behind her. She slips in at number nine on the list of top rowers for 2005. So what encouraged the nine-year-old to start rowing?
?I saw it,? she says simply.
Waleska became known internationally as a 16-year-old junior when she won silver as a as a member of the quad. This was the beginning of a nine-year streak with Waleska medalling every year internationally (apart from a break in 2000) including gold as a junior, gold as an under-23 and gold twice in the quad at the senior World Rowing Championships.
Waleska’s big success, however, came at the 2004 Athens Olympics when the women’s quad became the priority boat and Waleska ended up in the double. Going up against the two-time World Champions from New Zealand, Waleska and partner Britta Oppelt chased the New Zealanders down to less than a one-second gap at the finish, Waleska and Oppelt finishing with Olympic silver. This, Waleska says, is the race she is most proud of.
But Waleska’s real love is the single and last year she got the opportunity to focus on it, racing at the World Rowing Championships to an eighth-place finish. This is the boat she wants to race in at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she has proclaimed.
Waleska has always had an inkling for the single but as part of the top group of German women scullers, making the country’s quad go fast has often been the priority. With Kathrin Rutschow-Stomporowski dominating the single, it wasn’t until Rutschow-Stomporowski retired that the gap opened up for Waleska, allowing her to focus on her favoured boat.
Serving in a special battalion for athletes in the German Army allows Waleska to train like a full time rower. Just back from winter training camp in Sabaudia, Italy, Waleska continues to work under Coach Brigitte Bielig in her home town of Dresden.
Waleska’s 2006 season gets underway with trial races at Leipzig, Germany, this month.
To check out Waleska’s website (in German) go to: www.peggy-waleska.de
Related Links
2005 Top 10 female rowers