Agnieszka and Olena: racing at Henley Royal Regatta for Ukraine

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska has welcomed Olena Buryak into her home in Poland. The two friends will now compete at Henley Royal Regatta, where they will be raising awareness around the situation in Ukraine and promoting World Rowing’s fundraising efforts towards the Ukrainian rowing community.

It has been three months that you have been training together in Poland. How did it all started and how is it going now?

Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska (AKZ): I had just come back from the sport camp for receiving the title of the best athlete in Warsaw.  I read the news that the war had started in Ukraine. I had a mix of emotions, because it should have been a really happy day for me (because of the title), but it wasn’t. I thought about Olena, as she is from Ukraine, and I know her. We invited her and she came here.

I had decided to take a year off from representing Poland on the international circuit – after the Olympics, I needed to reset my mind. But I was still training. I offered to have Olena train with me, and at first, she declined. And one day, I asked her about competing together at Henley Royal Regatta. She thought about it for a day, and she accepted the challenge. My husband (Maciej Zawojski) became our coach and we started rowing together. It wasn’t easy, because we couldn’t train every day on water, but we tried to do as much as we could.

Who had first the idea of competing at Henley Royal Regatta, and what does it mean to compete in such a historical event?

Olena Buryak (OB): The idea came from Agnieszka and I am so glad that she asked me to participate – this is a dream becoming a reality.

AKZ : Actually, the idea is coming from Julia Michalska-Plotkowiak (member of World Rowing Athletes’ Commission). She told me: “Aga, you still train a lot, you should try race in Henley, and you should ask Olena to row with you there”.  She said it would be a great human story, not only about sport. I am grateful to Julia for this idea. I am now really excited to be part of this event, we want to take everything we can from this regatta, collect great memories. We often tend to focus only on the ultimate goal but I want to enjoy the process.  Sport is important but not the most important for me.

This is the first time participating at Henley Royal Regatta for both of you – how different will it be to race in that kind of format, compared to traditional racing in six lanes?

OB: I competed once in this type of knockout format in Frankfurt in 2017 – it was two boats, head to head, only 350 meters and in eights. But Henley Royal Regatta is an unforgettable experience! We can’t wait to be there and race, and see how we can perform.

AKZ : It will be the first time I am racing in this kind of format! I am a little bit stressed, we will see how it goes.

On the international circuit, you have both been mainly rowing in the quadruple sculls. Is it hard for you to adapt to the double sculls? 

OB: I competed on the international circuit in every boat class, more or less. But I have to admit that Agnieszka is the most comfortable partner in the double sculls for me. I can’t really tell if it’s something psychological or the nature of our combination…

AK : The double sculls is indeed very different – and Olena and myself each have a different style of rowing. She is stronger, but I am more dynamic. We will see if it was enough time to build a common rowing style from two very different one! But what I really want above all is to enjoy the race, because in my career I have had too much pressure.

What have been the biggest adjustments you had to do to row well together? What have you learned from one another?

OB : We are two athletes who that have rowed many years on the international circuit. We are professionals, but still can learn a lot from one another. The main takeaways from me were, new training exercise, but more importantly, a change in the attitude: make sure to have fun, the stars have to shine and 30 minutes of workout is better then nothing.

AKZ : I have learned from Olena that I should have fun from every training session. And that even with your rival, you can have a great session of work. Because in the end we all are one big rowing family. Thanks to Olena, I really changed my mind and have a different approach: results are not the most important. Even if we will lose, we took up the challenge.

You will be promoting World Rowing’s fundraiser to help the Ukrainian Rowing Community, how important is it for you?

OB & AKZ: On February 24, the life of all Ukrainians was divided into “before” and “after”. Every resident of Ukraine has suffered to some extent from the Russian invasion. The whole world is now helping and supporting the Ukrainians, internally displaced persons and ordinary people who have remained at home.

We, Agnieszka and Olena, with our performance at HRR want to support Ukrainian athletes. Some of them took up arms and went to defend their country, many lost their equipment and places for training due to the bombing. And many young athletes who were evacuated abroad literally with backpacks did not see their parents for almost 4 months.

The international rowing community already provided a lot of help for Ukrainian rowers, but unfortunately, this is not the end. Our goal is to raise funds to restore the rowing infrastructure in Ukraine and to support the generation of young rowers affected by the war.

With our story, we would like to show that everyone should cooperate, and not fight. We can fight in sport, but not in real life. We believe in a better world, without the war. We hope that our story will be a start, step by step, towards a better life.

To follow Agnieszka and Olena’s progress at Henley Royal Regatta, visit the regatta’s website.

To help support the Ukrainian rowing community, visit World Rowing’s fundraiser here.

Photos thanks to Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska.