December 2024: Dieuwke Fetter

ROWER OF THE MONTH – At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Dutch coxswain Dieuwke Fetter became the first woman to win an Olympic medal in the men’s eight as the Netherlands took silver; she went on to add more hardware with gold at the World Rowing Coastal Championships and silver at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in September. She is the last Rower of the Month for 2024.

How did you get into rowing?

I went to study in Amsterdam and it was a new city which also means you have to meet new people, so I was looking for a club or sorority or something to join. At a drunk night out at the club I signed up, and that’s how I got to the rowing club.

I was quite old – 20 – I didn’t know anything about rowing. My first year was like a competition year, being in the pub as much as you row. I rowed first, in wooden fours. I started coxing that as well next to my own crew.

In my second year I did selection for the freshman eight. I tried out for lightweight but I was too tiny.

What appealed about coxing?

At first I was 10 kilos heavier because of the party year that I had. My coach for the first year said ‘we think you should sign up for selection and go and do it because we think it’s the right fit’. That’s why I signed up, not because I thought it’d be great. The 7 o’clock in the morning training sessions weren’t really appealing to me. I signed up, and by surprise I got in the eight, and it just got on rolling from there.

It has a lot of moments where it’s really awful like in the mornings where it’s 7 o’clock or 8 o’clock and it’s cold or snowing or raining, and you sit there for two hours still in the boat, you’re not even moving.

But also the mornings where the sun’s getting up and there’s the river and the mist that’s above the grass, and birds. It’s something about when you row out of the city into nature. It’s magical. I’m working now two days a week for two years and I go to the office, and I miss those mornings.

What do you think are the specific skills you bring to a boat?

I’m always a little bit downgrading the coxing seat. The guys will get from A to B without me. They do it in a four, they do it in a pair, so they would probably also manage to do it in an eight.

I see myself more as a tool so when they get very tired I’m there to help them and make it easier, and just give a little bit more structure and motivation. I’m not a coxswain that, especially in races, does a lot of technical stuff. Once they get up out of the block you don’t change a lot because there’s so much power and so much energy in it. You just regulate it and highlight it. Most of the thing is just motivation, tell them where they are.

As a coxswain in eights in a race you have less effect and in training periods you have more effect. They get tired, and then it’s eight people that wander off. You have to get back into the focus. That’s the main thing, manage the periods before racing when they get tired. A coxswain just makes it easier.

You’ve coxed men’s, women’s and mixed crews – what are the differences, and do you have a preference?

With the guys they like me to say less than in my women’s crews that I’ve coxed before. Women do want more information and the guys are more OK, let me wander off and row, shut up. That’s the big difference.

Mixed crews are a coastal thing and coastal is totally different from the rowing that we’re used to. It’s also the fact that you’re on the beach and it’s sunny, it’s different. Races are postponed quite easily when the waves are getting too big. You can’t imagine that when you’re in a Lucerne or anywhere else.

In coastal you actually can contribute more in a specific way. You run from the beach so you actually have to be fast, because you can lose a little time on it, you have to manage to get in the boat. It’s not just straight like in a 2k. When you’re on coastal rowing, besides the running that you do, you have to steer around the buoys, catch the wind, there’s a lot more to think about. As a coxswain it’s more challenging and you contribute more which is what I like.

With the Dutch men’s eight you’ve been part of some epic races. What has been the highlight so far?

Munich (2022 European Rowing Championships) was great. We had this huge crab and we were so far behind and in the wrong lane and not even straight towards the finish anymore. Just on adrenalin, it was ‘go go go go’. The guys didn’t believe me that we were catching up. Still watching the race, it’s nice to watch. Also a race that you can catch up, it’s always good.

Belgrade (2023 World Rowing Championships) – we were never really quick starters so usually the first 1000 metres we were behind and we had to catch up with the rest of the field. That race was just really really magical because we had such a big finish in the last 600, 700m.

In Lucerne (World Rowing Cup III 2023) we were really tired because we were not on a peak that race. My fastest 500 was in the last 500m of the final, we did 1:18.3, and that was my fastest 500 ever. We were so far behind and we had the Romanians next to us and they sprint always crazy, and we wanted to stay in front of them. That was memorable because we had 1:26 and then 1:18 on the last 500.

How do you rate your silver-medal winning performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games?

The Paris Olympics it was like we always do. Our heat was not great, we managed to do the rep OK, and by the final we were finally a little bit awake. We were so privileged to have our best race in three years in our final.

We always tried to do a big first 1000 to stay with the field, which we never really managed, but this was the first time that we did. Not many athletes or crews are privileged to have their best race in the moment where it counts.

We were up front until 1000 and then after the 1000 the Brits got back. The third 500 was always a big piece for them. We tried to catch up with them and stay with them, but they got away. It happens so quickly: you blink your eyes and they’re gone.

In the last 500 or maybe the last 300 we just got back. It’s also because the Americans kept pushing and we had to keep them off as well.

I just switched to the Americans. I didn’t even look at the Brits anymore. Trying to catch up is harder than pushing away from someone who’s behind you. On the finish line there was one point I thought maybe we would be able catch up, because anything can happen until you get over the finish line. But they were far ahead.

There was one moment that every single one of us was like ‘well, it’s not gold’. We’ve never been so close halfway to the Brits. They’ve been better for three years, we’ve never beaten them, we didn’t beat them in the final. So it was one second of hard feelings and sadness but then we were close, we had the race of our lives, and then it’s a happy silver. We were very proud of it.

How did it feel to defend the world coastal title in the coastal women’s coxed quadruple sculls?

It didn’t feel like defending because it was a different crew. I didn’t know if any of the crews were the same. The year before I didn’t know anything about coastal, so everything was new.

This year I knew the Ukrainian women’s quadruple is also there and they are huge and very strong, and they row fast. They were ahead but they missed a buoy so they had to go back. That’s the very spectacular thing about coastal rowing, anything can happen. You can be ahead 700m and you miss a buoy and you have to go back and then you have to start over. That’s different from flat-water rowing, more can happen.

I’m very curious as to what the next four years is going to bring. It’s a new sport and they’re still looking for adjustments in the programme and how they do everything.

Where’s your favourite place to row?

I love Lucerne because it’s just a nice place. You’re within these small hills, and there’s the cows with the bells. It’s very cute.

Paris is not really a nice place, the rowing course is not beautiful, but I have good memories there.

And I like Linz. I don’t know why. It’s a crazy course. I’ve won there with the women’s eight at a World Cup but I also did the B-final with the women’s eight in world champs, so it’s mixed feelings.

I love Boston. I’ve only been there once for Head of the Charles, but for a coxswain it was just great.

And the Amstel in Amsterdam, it’s great – Heineken regatta, I just love it. What I like about it it’s not just one race, it’s four races, it’s four different distances. For everyone there’s something. When it’s nice weather there’s a good atmosphere and so many people from so many countries. It’s one of my favourites.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

If you have a set-back take it, learn from it. Don’t give up, keep going. Most of the time you’ll get there, one way or another.

My coach always says you have to be like a street-fighter: knuckles up and be a street-fighter when you’re racing.