British rowers contemplate 2012 ‘Home Games’

They now prepare to make 2012 their best season ever with the Olympics, in London, being the ‘Home Games’ that they have been steadily working towards.

GB Rowing Team News asked some of the leading members of the British squad how they would feel waking up on New Year’s Day 2012:

Katherine Grainger (three-time Olympic silver medallist):

"I think that I've woken up on a few New Year's Days in past Olympic years so I know exactly what it means and what we have to achieve. 

“I'll wake up, like everyone else, knowing how great the opportunity is for all of us.  But I think the difference is that this coming year I'll expect more messages from more people commenting on the year ahead, about 2012, because so many more people are switched into the fact that it's the Olympics than ever before.  So I think I will be aware from day one of 2012 exactly what it's all going to mean.”

Alan Campbell (Athens and Beijing Olympian and world single scull medallist):

“I'll probably think 'oh no' I've got to go out on the beach again [where he does a lot of his training over the Xmas/New Year break] but I will probably be quite excited too. We will be on that final run in and it's been a long time coming in some ways.

"I remember panicking when it was 1000 days to go to the Games. I was thinking that we didn't have enough time to do everything but now it's really upon us. We're down to the last 200 days or so, I'm really excited I can't wait for it to start.

“Hopefully, this will be my year. Not just for me but for British sculling, too. We haven't got the tradition that the sweepers have but at the same time it's quite a unique and special position we're in. We're not emulating something that's been done before.  It is something that is new ground.”

Sophie Hosking (twice a World Championships lightweight double scull medallist):

"I haven't really thought about what I will feel yet.  I guess you can't really ignore totally what's happening, especially as it's so much more prevalent in the media but I almost try to distance myself from that because I've got so much work to do yet to put myself in the best possible shape.  At the end of the day I won't radically change my training. It should be like any other normal day and August 4th (finals day) should also be like any normal racing day.  It's about going and delivering a performance. Yes, I'll be excited but I try not to get carried away with six months time.”

Andrew Triggs Hodge (Beijing Olympic gold medallist, men's four)

"Thinking forward to London 2012 we are a big team, everyone's pushing for it at the moment.  Everyone is fighting for those top seats. Already there is furious racing going on.  It's great to be part of the team and I'm really looking forward to it.

"We have young guys fighting out there for their first Games and their first gold medal.  They have to prove themselves over and over again and we've got to do no less.   If ever we think we've got our name on our seats, if ever we think 'oh yes, we've got this in the bag,’ someone else will take the opportunity to improve and it doesn't matter if I've won it five times or not, you have to take your chance you have to get out there and prove yourself.  That's the great thing about the sport we are in. It's so competitive – not least within our own team.  We have a squad of 14 guys. They are all capable of winning a gold medal. It's only going to be a few guys who are in that top boat and working with Juergen (Grobler). That's the boat I want to be in and it all starts now with the rain and the drizzle.

"We are certainly looking to outdo Beijing. We are so strong, so much stronger than we have been before. We have new guys that have come in since Beijing and they are at the front of the pack.”

Tom Aggar (Beijing Paralympic gold medallist, men's single scull)

"I think there will be that extra special sort of anticipation.  It's obviously going to be that bit more of a hype around it because it's the home Games.  It will be huge.  I think that for us it is only the second time that rowing has featured in the Paralympic Games and the interest has really grown.  I think that across the whole Paralympics there will be huge interest."

From: GB Rowing Team News, 30 December 2011