The unexpected and amazing stories from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta unfolded like a tapestry of thrilling and unexpected narratives, weaving together the dreams and determination of rowers from around the globe. From breathtaking comebacks to heartwarming displays of sportsmanship, the regatta was a testament to the magic that the Olympics can inspire. We delve into the remarkable and surprising tales that made the Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta an unforgettable chapter in our sports’ history.

A roller-coaster ride for Yauheni Zalaty

Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN)  Yauheni Zalaty ticked all the boxes of a “roller-coaster ride” through his experience in Paris.

The single sculler, originally from Belarus, had qualified for the Olympic Games in September 2023 – however had to wait 9 months to know if he was eligible to compete under the IOC criteria. The challenges didn’t stop there. A couple weeks before travelling to Paris it was not clear if he could get his boat to France, as the Polish Government changed their regulations on 1 July including a general ban on such sports equipment coming in from Belarus. Despite providing the necessary documentation at the Polish border, his shell could not leave his home country. He had to fly to France, not knowing if he could find a suitable boat for him – a specific model, from one of World Rowing’s official suppliers. After searching all over Europe, with the help of World Rowing, the IOC and several national rowing federations, a boat was found, but needed some refurbishing, which was done… a day after he arrived in Paris forthe Olympic regatta.

On July 30, a couple of hours before his quarterfinal A/B, Zalaty got a call from home. His wife, Ksenya, had just given birth to their first child, a boy named Mark. Something that Zalaty called “the best victory of his life” and gave him even more motivation to perform, despite being far away from his family. But the best was yet to come.

On Saturday, 3 August, after qualifying for his first-ever Olympic A-Final, Zalaty was on his way from the Olympic village to the Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium when the bus he was in, broke down about midway through the trip. The athlete was still stuck on the motorway, when some of the A-Final competitors where already warming up on the water. The decision was made to postpone the A-Final of the men’s single by one hour – which came with no complaints from any of the other five competitors – to allow Zalaty to arrive in time for his “one-in-a-lifetime” opportunity. And Zalaty capitalised on it, with a supersonic last 500m that saw him coming from sixth to second and win a silver medal.

A happy ending for what was a roller-coaster ride…

The Romanian men’s double, from sure elimination to Olympic Champions

Tuesday, 30th July, 11:16 AM in Vaires-sur-Marne. The first semifinal A/B of the men’s double sculls is approaching the finish line. After a fantastic start, the Serbian duo of Nikolaj Pimenov and Martin Mackovic is entering the red buoys levelled with Spain for the second position, with a 7m advantage over fourth-place Romania, behind the heavy favourites of the Netherlands. The three spots for the A-Final seem to be locked. There’s no way the Romanians can come back. But with 20m to go, Pimenov has nothing left in the tank. He comes to a standstill. Enache and Cornea of Romania, in typical Romanian fashion, get the rating up to 49 strokes per minute. They overtake them on the line and qualify for the A-Final. Fist bumps for the 2024 European Champions, who were 20m away from missing out on the qualification.

Fast-forward, two days later. With the slowest time of the six A-Finalists, the Romanians were stuck in Lane 1. Everyone was looking for the duel between Netherlands, who looked very impressive throughout the entire Olympiad, and Ireland, peaking at the right time and carrying a lot of momentum. True to their race plan, Enache and Cornea started fast, leading after 500m. They were levelled with the Dutch midway through the race. When Twellaar and Broenink made their move at the 1’250, they responded and went with them. Here came the red buoys, and the two crews were fighting for gold. The rate went up to 46 for the Romanians and they took off.

When they crossed the line, it was absolute history for Cornea and Enache as they secured the first-ever gold medal for Romania in a men’s sculling boat class – and one of the major upsets of the Paris 2024 rowing regatta. Who would have thought this two days before, when they seemed to be a sure lock to get to the B-Final?

Mother’s Higher Power

What are the odds of having two national team mothers sat in a boat together, both with babies of almost the same age? Very unlikely. How many times two mothers have won an Olympic gold medal together? Never in the history of New Zealand rowing – and probably never anywhere else. Five mothers winning medals at the same rowing regatta? Certainly never happened. If Paris 2024 tought us something, is that being a mother and performing at the highest level of the sport is truly compatible.

Keira (Brooke Francis’ daughter) and Rupert (Lucy Spoors’ son) might be too young to realise how unique this result was for their respective mums. But Francis and Spoors wrote history in Paris, when they crossed the line first in the A-Final of the women’s double sculls. The duo came into the double in 2023, from different directions. Francis was part of the Olympic silver medal double at Tokyo while Spoors has spent much of her international career in the eight winning silver at Tokyo. Spoors switched from sweep rowing to sculling so that she could train in the single while pregnant. A year and a half later, Francis and Spoors beat the almost unbeatable reigning Olympic champions of Romania, to win a well-deserved Olympic gold medal.

Surely that inspired fellow Kiwi Emma Twigg, watching that race from the mixed zone after her semifinal. She was the reigning Olympic Champion in the women’s single sculls, and by popular opinion, is one of the best advocates of the sport for how to juggle motherhood and performance on the water. Two days after Francis and Spoors, “Twiggy” challenged Karolien Florijn all the way to the line, to add an Olympic silver medal to her impressive resume. Something that her son Tommy will no doubt be proud of.

Speaking about pride, the tears of Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne’s son Freddie in Lucerne were already an emotional moment. Seeing her mom, who qualified a few weeks ago for the Games, coming away with a bronze medal in the women’s double, after a brilliant regatta and a great final, was surely an amazing moment for the Hodgkins-Byrne household – as it was in the grandstands for the Glover/Backshall family. Helen Glover is no stranger to winning Olympic medals, having won gold in London and Rio in the pair, and her silver medal in the women’s four – despite a great battle with the Netherlands all the way to the line – will be a sign of relief for the 37-year-old Glover who “wanted to win a medal for my kids”. Mission accomplished!

Sinkovic Brothers are rowing – and Croatian – legends

There was Redgrave and Pinsent. There was Murray and Bond. There is, now, Martin and Valent. With three Olympic gold medals, and four overall, the Sinkovic Brothers are in rare air, after successfully defending their Olympic title in the men’s pair, in what was by popular opinion the best race of the Olympic regatta.

A few weeks ago, this result was hard to envision. Early 2024, in what was a surprising move, the “Sinkobros” had decided to switch back from the double to the pair, despite coming off a silver medal at the 2023 World Championships. They said that the pair, a “more technical, less explosive, up-and-down boat” suited more their style of rowing, but the first results were a bit alarming. Two fourth-place finishes at World Cup I and at the European Championships, a silver medal at World Cup III with some of the top crews missing, it was hard to envision them beating the World Champions of Switzerland or the European Champions from Great Britain.

But Martin Sinkovic, a huge American Football fan, must have taken a page from a former NBA coach’s book that said, “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a Champion”. And from the very first strokes in Paris, we understood that the Sinkovic Brothers were back, with their usual calm, collected, beautiful style of rowing. Cruising through their heat and semifinal, they came in the final as underdogs. But their last 500m was probably the most impressive we’ve seen all week. And even if the Brits had a technical error right before the line, there’s a good chance that Martin and Valent would have overtaken them on just ahead of that 2000m marker.

With three Olympic gold medals – and 55 International medals overall – they have now reached the status of Rowing legends. Oh, and they are the most decorated Croatian summer Olympians – ever. Having already announced that they would continue until the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, the “Sinkobros” are above all, an inspiration for all rowers in the World. Hvala! 

Olli Zeidler keeps gold medals in the family

The Paris 2024 rowing regatta is over. Athletes are back in the village, boats are tied on trailers, spectators are gone. Well not all of them! One small group of indomitable German fans is waiting for their hero. His name? Olli Zeidler.

Two hours before, Zeidler accomplished his dream – winning an Olympic gold medal, in dominating fashion. There were some critics after failing to qualify for the A-Final in Tokyo, there were some doubts after missing out on a medal at home in Munich in 2022 or being beaten by Simon van Dorp earlier this year in Lucerne. But in Paris, there was just no stopping the German sculler. Coasting through the first two rounds of racing, Olli sent a message to his fellow competitors when he broke the Olympic Best Time in his semifinal. And despite some slightly windy conditions, and the postponement of his final, he dominated his race, winning by clear water and achieving his ultimate goal.

The ever-focused Zeidler, holding hands with his girlfriend Sofia Meakin, cracked a huge smile on his face when he met his fans afterwards. Amongst them, a pretty familiar face for Olli – his grandfather, Hans-Johann Faerber, who was himself an Olympic champion in rowing, winning the gold medal in the men’s coxed four at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In the family, winning Olympic medals is a tradition – Olli’s aunt, Judith Zeidler was a Seoul 1988 Olympic Champion in the Eight, his uncle Matthias Ungemach a two-time World Champion in 1990 in the Eight and 1991 in the coxed Four. His dad and coach, Heino Zeidler, competed  twice at the World Rowing Championships, and his sister Marie-Sophie has already collected several medals at World and European Junior Championships.

But there is nothing better than an Olympic gold medal. And Olli, like his grandfather 52 years ago, can now call himself an Olympic Champion.

And also…

The future of lightweights is bright. When asked about her future after her Gold medal in the lightweight women’s double sculls, Imogen Grant had this answer. “Our winning time today was 6:47 and the winning time for the openweight women’s double yesterday was 6:50, so maybe we will be competitive”, with a big wink. In fact, both of the lightweight men and women double sculls’ times in their respective finals were faster than the openweight doubles, in very similar wind conditions. For what was the “last dance” of the lightweight double sculls in the Olympic Games programme, it certainly does not mean the end of the road for these rowers -and very few of them have announced that they will stop rowing. The future is bright, in whatever category – or discipline – that is!

Sweet Karolien resonates in Vaires. The postponement of the men’s single sculls A-Final meant that there was a small break in the programme after the women’s single sculls A-Final. That gave time for Karolien Florijn to celebrate her gold medal… and for the public to celebrate her, by singing “Sweet Caroline”. With a full grandstand singing as one, it was certainly one of the coolest moments of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games regatta – kudos to our DJ for playing the right music at the right time!