Dovydas Nemeravicius (LTU)

Rising Star – July 2016

Lithuania’s Dovydas Nemeravicius is only 19 years old and has been racing internationally since 2013.

In 2014, he won a silver medal in the double at the World Rowing Junior Championships and this year he took European silver with his crewmates in the men’s quadruple sculls at the European Rowing Championships. Nemeravicius will be participating at his first Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, joining the quad that qualified from a sixth-place finish at last year’s World Rowing Championships.

World Rowing takes a look at this rising star in rowing.

I discovered rowing… when I was 15 years old. I really didn’t know what rowing looked like before that. My parents took me to watch rowing training and it looked pretty weird to me.

If I was not rowing, my sport would be… Maybe it would be something with power, speed and teamwork like rugby.

The qualities I most appreciate in my teammates are… motivation, endurance and friendliness.

One of the most significant moments for me in rowing so far… it will be this year – the chance to stand in one start line and compete with the strongest quads from the whole world at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

I like rowing in the men’s quadruple sculls because… it’s one of the fastest boats, and it won’t be fast if the team will not work as a team. I like teamwork so much!

On the erg, my best score so far is… 5.52.2 seconds.

My least favourite training season is… autumn, because it is rainy, windy and so cold for rowing in Lithuania.

My favourite training season is… of course it is summer. It’s still windy but temperature is much higher.

My goal for Rio is… to hear my country’s national anthem.

I study… Sports coaching at the Lithuanian Sports University

After rowing, the profession I plan to have is… rowing coach.

My sporting hero is… the whole Lithuanian rowing team, because I have never seen so many motivated people.

My non-rowing friends think that rowing is… kayaking or something like that, and say “your arms probably are very strong.”