Young Olympians - becoming masters (Part II)

Vinje ended his Olympic career in 1988, Bjoeness and Bredael both in 1996, two cycles later. Of the three, Vinje was the only one of the three to take a real break from the sport.

It was a natural progression for Vinje. “I got married, raised four kids, focused on my job,” he says. “I only came back to rowing a few years ago. It’s like learning to ride a bike. You might be a bit stiffer and the timing might not be exactly what it was. But these are details, the main picture is that you have the movement.”

When Vinje finally did come back to sport, he quickly found his old teammate Bjoeness. Bjoeness had not followed the same path. After finishing his Olympic career, he kept on rowing, but at the national level for his club. “It was one level above the masters,” he says. “I was training with the younger guys, I felt good, and it kept me young. But after I passed 50, I understood that I needed to give my place away to the young guys and I started rowing with the masters.”

Bjoeness admits that he had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the masters scene, saying he would not have been here if it had not been for Vinje.

Vinje agrees. “He (Lars) keeps saying, ‘there are so many old people here!’ And I said, ‘Look in the mirror Lars.’” This more relaxed approach has led Vinje to his own conclusions. “My advice to former elite rowers thinking about masters would be – you have spent so much time learning it, why waste it? You can have a great time in the boat with your friends. That is my motivation.”

Bjoeness suggests trying to reconnect with former teammates to get back into a boat. “It is ok to take some years off and calm down a little bit,” he says. “If you find some of your old partners, you catch up with them and use that as motivation to do some training and get in better shape, that is great.”

The intensity of their training has definitely changed over the last 35 years. “It is great, rowing at 17 strokes per minute and just gliding with Lars in the double. We glide along, we increase the rate, and when it gets too uncomfortable, we just go back down again,” Vinje laughs. But there are still a few competitive bones left. “Lars is getting too serious. Today, I wanted to bring my sandals in the boat. He said, ‘NO! You can’t have those sandals, too heavy!’ And before we started he told everyone to empty their water bottles.”

Bjoeness laughs, shrugs and says, “I like to be prepared.”

Bredael took another approach to her transition. “I never stopped rowing,” she says. “Since 16 when I started, there has never been a year I haven’t rowed.”

Bredael stopped competing internationally after the 1996 Olympic Games. Just ten months after the games she had her first son, but that didn’t stop her. Rowing until she was five months pregnant and again just four weeks after giving birth Bredael barely missed a step. “I was still training five times a week, but then after the second child and the third, I slowed down to just once a week,” Bredael says.

Bredael continued with the same club, where she has now rowed for 34 years. She continued participating in the Belgian Championships all the way until 2009 when she rowed for the last time in the eight. She and her teammates have been rowing together for 25 years and competed on their home course at the World Rowing Masters Regatta.

“I’ve competed here many times. First in ’85 for the World Championships, then several world cups, then again 15 years ago for the masters regatta and now today. It’s always a great moment to be here with all the people. I am the local hero here, so all of the newspapers write that I am participating. But I am not good anymore!” she laughs. But Bredael has shifted her rowing focus to her children. Her now 18-year-old son recently won the Belgian Championships in the junior men’s single and her 15-year-old daughter is also just starting the sport.

Bredael is happy and proud that her kids are rowing. “I used to be shy and timid and rowing has taught me to come out of my shell. It has also taught me to be tough, to preserver and to manage my time well.”

Simply put, “I just love rowing, all these years, we just kept rowing,” Bredael says.