Shunyi side happenings: rowers as flag bearers and more

Rowers as flag bearers

Rowers featured prominently at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. Monaco’s lone rower, Mathias Raymond was told by Prince Albert II of Monaco two weeks ago that he would carry the flag for his country. Raymond, who races in the men’s single said he felt, “very surprised at first, then very proud and my thoughts went to my family. It also puts a lot of pressure on me but as it is getting near, I really appreciate that everything will go just fine.”

New Zealand’s largest ever Olympic team was led by three-time World Champion in the men’s single Mahe Drysdale. Although Drysdale races today, he was confident that being part of the opening ceremony would not hinder his performance. Drysdale wore a traditional native Maori cloak.

At his sixth Olympics, James Tomkins of Australia got to carry the flag for his country. Tomkins has three Olympic gold medals and will be racing here in his country’s men’s eight. The eight also joined in the opening ceremony as a mark of solidarity.

Lost in transit

Taking your favourite oars with you on the plane can cause unnecessary inconvenience. When the Danish team went to the delivery spot for oversized luggage at the airport, they had the bad surprise to see four oars were missing – two sculls of the lightweight men’s double and two of the lightweight women’s double were broken. These favourite sculls were carried for the very reason that the rowers wanted nothing to happen to them. Fortunately spare ones were in the Danish container that was shipped from Lucerne, Switzerland. The rowers say the new oars are feeling better with every row.

Spare races and medal ceremony rehearsal

Being a spare at the Olympic Games requires many logistical considerations. Spares are not staying at the Olympic village with the team and have different accreditation credentials. One of the ways they keep motivated and ready is the spares race. Yesterday they raced on the Olympic course. This was an important moment to truly feel part of the Games and also use the race as a rehearsal for the medal ceremony.

Shunyi briefs

There’s an ongoing game around the rowing course called, “how to pronounce each other’s name.”
With Beijing’s well known August heat and humidity many of the rowers have ingenious ways to keep cool. The United States have an impressive cooling down system – they use a small swimming pool filled with cold water and ice. The rowers sit in it with the cool water that comes up to their waste. The coolness helps with better circulation of the blood.

Australia had a boat christening day with the names covering a who’s who of Australian rowing related personalities and ideas. The names include Amy Gillett for the women’s eight. Gillett was a former rower who died while training as a cyclist for the 2004 Olympics. The men’s double is called Schinias. This is named after the 2004 Olympic course and is a motivator not to do as poorly as the two rowers did there. Johan Coates is the name on the men’s pair. Coates is the head of the Australian Olympic Committee and a strong rowing supporter.