Finalists revealed for 2012 World Rowing Awards

The awards process began with the general public submitting nearly 1,000 nominations. The nomination list was then voted to a shortlist by the FISA Council. The final votes for selecting the winners will be made by FISA’s Executive Committee. The winners will then be announced at the Gala Dinner during the World Rowing Coaches Conference in Limerick, Ireland on 2 November 2012.

The list, unsurprisingly, largely reflects results from the London 2012 Olympic Games rowing regatta and has the top Olympic rowing nation, Great Britain, represented in three of the five award categories. Germany, the Czech Republic, South Africa and New Zealand fare well, each featuring in two of the categories.

2012 World Rowing Coach of the Year

• Ralf Holtmeyer (Germany) – Coach of the German men’s eight who went on a winning streak that lasted from 2009 through to the London Olympic Games.
• Dick Tonks (New Zealand) – As head coach for New Zealand, Tonks played a part in the five Olympic medals that New Zealand won at the London Olympics. Tonks has won this award twice before, in 2005 and 2010.
• Paul Jackson (South Africa) – Coached the South African lightweight men’s four through to gold at London. This is the first ever Olympic gold ever won by South Africa in rowing.

2012 World Rowing Male Crew of the Year

• Filip Adamski, Andreas Kuffner, Eric Johannesen, Maximilian Reinelt, Richard Schmidt, Lukas Mueller, Florian Menningen, Kristof Wilke, Martin Sauer (Germany, men’s eight) – This crew remained unbeaten from 2009 through to Olympic gold in London.
• Eric Murray, Hamish Bond (New Zealand, men’s pair) – Murray and Bond have not lost a race since 2009 and as well as winning Olympic gold in London, the duo set a new World Best Time during the London Olympic rowing regatta.
• James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith, Lawrence Ndlovu (South Africa, lightweight men’s four) – When this crew won gold at the London Olympics, they became the first South African rowing crew to ever win Olympic gold.

2012 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year

• Mirka Knapkova (Czech Republic, women’s single sculls) – When Knapkova became the London Olympic Champion she also became the first Czech female rower to win the Olympic gold. She has been progressing up to this level over her decade at the top of the sport.
• Katherine Grainger, Anna Watkins (Great Britain, women’s double sculls) – Grainger, Great Britain’s most medalled female rower, teamed up with Watkins in 2010 and they haven’t lost a race since. In London they became Olympic Champions.
• Helen Glover and Heather Stanning (Great Britain, women’s pair) – Both Glover and Stanning were discovered through talent ID programmes and they went on to build up over two years to becoming the first British women to win Olympic gold in rowing.

2012 World Rowing Adaptive Crew of the Year

• Cheng Huang (China, AS men’s single sculls) – Despite Huang’s relatively short time in rowing he not only managed to become a Paralympic Champion, but also set a new World Best Time along the way.
• Pamela Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith, James Roe, Lily Van Den Broecke (Great Britain, LTAMix4+) – This crew has been regularly in the medals since 2004 and at the London Paralympic Games they became Paralympic Champions.
• Alla Lysenko (Ukraine, AS women’s single sculls) – Lysenko won this award last year and she is back on the list again as she has still not lost a race at the international level.

2012 World Rowing Distinguished Services to International Rowing

• Qing Zhang (China) – Qing headed the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee international relations. For FISA, before his retirement, he was a Continental Representative for Asia for nearly 20 years.
• Magdalena Sarbochova (Czech Republic) – Sarbochova was one of the first members of FISA’s women’s rowing commission. She was formerly a top rower.
• Di Ellis (Great Britain) – Ellis has been instrumental in overseeing the rise of British rowing and has been behind all of the international rowing events that have come to Great Britain.

To view past awardees, please click here.