World Rowing Championships ? Quick Quotes

M8+ / USA / (gold medallists)

Dan Beery

How long have you been in this boat?

?We have been training together since 3 August this year.?

?We are really focused in the eight, and as soon as season starts, we spend 80% of the time in the eight.?

?It was a good idea [to bring the World Rowing Championships to Japan]. Were it not for the wind and current, it would be perfect, but it's all a part of it. People are very respectful here and treat you so well, it's amazing!?

Do you plan to go in the same combination to Beijing?

?We have guys going to Oxford (University in Great Britain), so it will change a lot. It will be a different boat, but all of them will make an Olympic boat if they stay around.?

 

LM4- / IRL / (silver medallists)

Timmy Harnedy

How long have you been in this boat?

?We have been together in this boat combination for 2-3 months. In Gifu we acclimatised quite well.?

How intense is your training schedule?

?We trained 2-3 time a day, 7 days a week. One day a week, usually on Monday, we train only once a day.?

Is rowing your full time occupation?

?No, we are pretty busy. I am a first year student at university and study Russian and business. Eugene [Coakley] is a civil engineer. Richard [Archibald] is an architect, and Paul [Griffin] is studying law.?

?We hope to go to Beijing in 2008.?

 

W4x / RUS / (bronze medallists)

Irina Fedotova

How long have you been in this boat?

?Three of us have been rowing together for 9-10 years. The fourth place has been rotating. We are part of the 'army' sports club.?

What keeps you motivated to stay in rowing?

?We love rowing, it's a beautiful sport. The athletes who do rowing are very different from athletes from other sports. They know what team spirit is, they are fun and they know how to be focused.

I am looking forward to going back home, to see my 4 year old son.?

 

M4x / POL / (gold medallists)

Marek Kolbowicz

How long have you been in this boat?

?One year in this boat. Adam [Korol] and I have been rowing together for seven years. We got three medals, and this is our fourth medal, and it's gold! In Athens we lost the bronze medal by 0.07 seconds, so we are very happy with the result today.?

How was the race?

?Very fast. We had the best teams in our heat. All wanted to win! Slovenia, Estonia, Czech Republic, two days ago we were only two seconds apart.?

?Though it's very far, it's a good idea [to have the World Rowing Championships in Japan]. Before the Champs we spent two weeks in Minokamo. It's a small place. The river is very close, the people are so nice, and the food is excellent. By bringing Champs to Gifu we get a chance to get acquainted to a new country, to a new culture, it's very interesting and educational.?

M8+ / USA / (gold medallists)

Dean Beery

How long have you been in this boat?

?We have been training together since 3 August this year.?

?We are really focused in the eight, and as soon as season starts, we spend 80% of the time in the eight.?

?It was a good idea [to bring the World Rowing Championships to Japan]. Were it not for the wind and current, it would be perfect, but it's all a part of it. People are very respectful here and treat you so well, it's amazing!?

Do you plan to go in the same combination to Beijing?

?We have guys going to Oxford, so it will change a lot. It will be a different boat, but all of them will make an Olympic boat if they stay around.?

 

W8+ / AUS / (gold medallists)

Selby Smith-Robyn

?We had a much faster start. We came out two seconds faster.?

You had a big gap in the season, as you didn't come to Lucerne, was that a problem?

?We went to the first two BearingPoint Rowing World Cups and it's a long way obviously from Lucerne to Australia and then to Japan, there just wasn't enough time. We would have been in Europe for too long so it wasn't feasible. But as it worked out, it was perfect preparation!?

 

LW2x / Germany / (gold medallists)

Daniela Reimer

?It's an amazing success and a great race! It was close at the end!?
When we passed the Finnish crew we got an extra kick, and knew we could do it!?

 

LM4- / France / (gold medallists)

Jean Christophe Bette

How did you get back on top after a less successful few seasons after Sydney?

?Well, through keeping up motivation. This year we started with a new coach and a new group, and we really wanted to beging the new Olympic cycle properly. It went well from the start and now what we had started at the begining of the season has come together, so it's great!?

Were you surprised about your result?

?No, at these World rowing Championships we knew we could make it. But it's true that at the beginning of the season we did not expect to get to this level so quickly.?

Are you following your wife's performance? (Jean-Christophe Bette is married to Caroline Freslon-Bette from the FRA LW4x)

?Yes of course. We see each other every day. I was bit disappointed for here earlier on, but I hope it will be OK.?

 

LM2x / Denmark / (silver medallists)

Mads Rasmussen
?It was a close race. We could see from the times of the semi finals that it was going to be a close race with Hungary because they had almost identical times [in the semi].?
?We had really problems get it to work out there, because we constantly hit the waves with the oars so we had a lot more problems with that [the final sprint] than we usually have and therefore we didn't get the rhythm going.?

 

LM2- / DEN / (gold medallists)

Thomas Ebert
?Yes we are [retiring]. This was our final race it means the last chance we had and we won all the races we had, so the final was important.?

Will you be staying involved in rowing?
?I don't think I will be a coach, I don't have the patience for it, but some kind of activity related to rowing would be nice.?

Bo Helleberg
?I have a daughter and a wife that I have to take care of!?

 

LM2- / Chile / (silver medallists)

Manuel Cerda Silva

?I think the most difficult boat to beat was definitely Italy, because they are very good, they are Olympic Champions.?
?For us it is a very good race.?

Will you go on to Beijing?

?Maybe, we really hope to be there.?

 

M4- / the Netherlands / (silver medallists)

Do you plan to stay in the four or go back into the eight?
Gijs Vermeulen (the Netherlands): "We have a group of 12 to 15 people and everything is based on building an eight in Beijing, but we form a four pretty well so maybe we'll stick to the four and we'll see what happens."

What about doubling up and racing two events? "No ? look what happened to the Americans."

How long have you been rowing together?
Jan-Willem Gabriels (the Netherlands): "A week before the BearingPoint Rowing World Cup in Eton. In heats and semi-finals we had good races. At this level you have to have a perfect race to win."
Matthijs Vellenga (the Netherlands): "Today the first 500m was very hard. If we decide to continue together then we'll have a gold one day."

 

M4- / Canada / (bronze medallists)
Peter Dembicki (Canada): "The result is beyond our expectation."
How long have you been training together?
Rob Weitemeyer (Canada): ?Six weeks and we've been training three times a day together during that period.?
Andrew Ireland (Canada): "The atmosphere in the crew is competitive and friendly."
What is the range of ages in the boat? ?Between 20 and 24 years old.?
What brought you to rowing?
Rob Weitemeyer (Canada): "Basically, I was a fat kid."

 

M2- / New Zealand / (gold medallists)
What's the secret? Three gold medals in three races?
Nathan Twaddle (New Zealand): "No secrets, hard work. It is no sudden success, it has been building up for a long time."
How did you figure out who would be racing in which boat? "We did a lot of seat racing in March."

 

W1x / Belarus / (gold medallist)
What keeps you motivated to stay in the sport for so long?
Ekaterina Karsten (Belarus): ?I'm used to it and I can't imagine my life without it. The fact that I'm winning keeps the motivation. Also FISA has changed the size of the medal and I haven't got a big gold medal yet. What also keeps me motivated is the fact that I'm coaching.?

It looks like this season was easy for you?
?Yes and no. I've had a new coach since 2003 and my technique has changed for the better. I have a different approach to training now.?

You have a 7 year old daughter. What is her attitude towards you as a champion and towards rowing?
?When I didn't get a gold medal in Athens she got offended. But then she agreed that it was a medal anyways and was content.

Would you like your daughter to do a sport?
?Certainly. Sport is very important – the choice is up to her. In Belarus, rowing isn't very popular. They started to talk about it when I brought my first medal.?

 

W1x / USA / (bronze medallist)
You were in the quad in Athens, why the single now?
Michelle Guerette (United States): "All of us spread out. I went to Boston, trained too hard, started again. I had good erg results and won the tests. I decided to try it out in the single although I wasn't very fast on the test. I enjoy it in the single but there's still a long way to go."

 

LW1x / Spain / (bronze medallist)
How was the race?
Teresa Mas de Xaxars Rivero (Spain): "Very difficult because of the headwind and the highest stroke."
Are you happy with the result? "Yes, but we could always do better. At the 2002 World Rowing Championships I was the third and am again the third today."

How were the weather conditions for you?
"In the first week the training was dangerous, we had to train on the other side of the river."