Antonio Colamonici, 2024 Coach of the Year

He’s a former rower, a former Italian rowing coach, the head coach for the Romanian Rowing Federation, and now his success is cemented in being named the 2024 World Rowing Coach of the Year. Antonio Colamonici.

The award is even more special as Colamonici achieved it in an Olympic year when Olympic results play heavily with the winner. And Colamonici’s Olympic success is nothing short of phenomenal. Colamonici’s team scored two gold and three silver medals at the Paris Olympics. This number is even more impressive as it put them third on the medals table and made up over half of Romania’s total Olympic medal tally.

It is also a step up from the Tokyo Olympic Games, where Romania won one gold and two silver medals.

Antonio Colamonici grew up in Napoli, and comes from the very large stable of Italian rowing coaches that have spread their wings to coach in other countries. He began his rowing journey as an athlete competing for Italy as part of the under-23 team. He then moved to coaching first in Italy and then joining the Romanian team in 2016.

“When I arrived in Romania the situation was very complicated because the philosophy of rowing was completely different,” says Colamonici. “They used the communist system of the coach running their lives. They (the rowers) were free to do nothing. The rowing was not a pleasure.”

Colamonici came into a situation where the athletes were in a training camp from October until the end of the season with the coach controlling their life in and out of training.

Speaking to rowing commentator Martin Cross, Colamonici says he decided to change the mentality.

“The first rule I made was you must row at this time in the morning, this time in the afternoon. The rest of the day you are free, you can do whatever you want. Outside of training you must have a normal life.

“Now it’s a fantastic place. People have a normal life.”

Colamonici says his coaching style was influenced by Giuseppe la Mura. “He taught me everything I know.”

But Colamonici is quick to point out that the training programme must adapt to the country and the athletes, “they are not machines.”

For Paris Colamonici says his goal was to make sure every crew that competed was competitive and he set a target of being better than the Tokyo Olympics.

The two gold medals came in the men’s double sculls (Andrei Cornea and Marian Enache) and the women’s eight with the eight earning special pride. The Romanian women’s eight had been their nation’s key boat ever since rowing became an Olympic sport for women. They won medals in this boat class at every Olympics from 1980 through to 2008 including three gold medals in a row from 1996 to 2004.

Despite continued effort the Romanian eight domination waned after 2004 and in 2012 they missed the medals podium completely. The eight came back for a medal in Rio then missed

again in Tokyo. All eyes were on them in Paris especially as it took until the very last minute for the final crew to be selected.

Colamonici knows that as a coach the mental aspect of competing is just as, if not more, important as the physical side. He saw the women’s eight in Tokyo go from setting the World Best Time in the repechage to missing out on a medal in the final.

“I wasn’t able to keep the stress and in the final we weren’t the best.”

For Paris, Colamonici changed his approach.

“I spend a lot of time on the emotional side of the athletes.

“For me the race (women’s eight final at Paris) was not a stress. I said, ‘ladies we are not here to discuss if you win or not, I just want from you when you are in the last 500m when you will be alone you must be fantastic. You must be strong and beautiful. I want not a gold medal I want a fantastic show’.”

It was Colamonici’s third Olympic gold medal of his coaching career.

For Colamonici’s award acceptance, his athletes commented on him as a coach:

“Antonio is a good coach because he comes and spices it up with something new. It doesn’t feel like a routine any more.”

“I don’t know his secret but one thing is for sure he knows how to make a team work and I want to be a part of it.”

“He knows everything about rowing, but the most important thing is that he knows how to motivate us to give our best even in hard moments.”

As Colamonici says, “Rowing is not a big part of my life, rowing is my life. I am very lucky to have the opportunity to teach my athletes to love it like me.”