23 Jan 2012
A quad for the future and the present
When he says that, it’s because team mate Martin Sinkovic likes to cook. Martin considers himself a real “cordon bleu” and when they were at their training camps Martin would prepare meals for the whole crew. His speciality is pasta and his colleagues seem to like that.
“We try to be focused on every stroke during training," says Martin Sinkovic. Nothing extraordinary at all, but the reality is that David Sain, Damir Martin and brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic dominated the season, winning the three stages of the 2010 Rowing World Cups. They were defeated only once this year at the European Rowing Championships in Portugal by the Polish crew, Olympic Champions in Beijing and four-time World Champions.
“The Poles are not here”, explains Martin in his perfect English. “Their main goal for this year was the European Championships and they were at their best level in Portugal. For us, it’s not the same thing. We aim to be World Champions and we’re now in our best shape of the year.”
This Croatian quad story began in 2009. For their first year together, they finished fourth at the World Championships in Poznan, Poland. And the future lies ahead of them because this crew, trained by Nikola Bralic, are very young. Three of them are 22, and the youngest, Martin Sinkovic is 20.
Except for David Sain, Rowing is a family affair in this boat. The two Sinkovic brothers began to row because their oldest brother was in a club. For Damir Martin it stretches further, “My grandparents and my parents were rowers," says Martin. And my oldest brother competed in the national junior team.”
Three of them come from Zagreb and David Sain from Osiek. When they are in the training camp in Osiek, the team stay at Sain’s house. “It’s proof that they’re really friends,” says Zoran Emersic, the Croatian head coach. “This creates a good atmosphere and is a real part of their success.”
The question is to know if it will be enough to win at Lake Karapiro. If it is, it will be a part of history: never has a Croatian crew won a World Championship title in an Olympic boat classes.
With the help of Sinkovic’s pasta dishes, they hope to realise their dream on Friday.
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