Iztok Cop: “You Never Really Leave Rowing”

Iztok Cop spent his childhood rowing on Lake Bled, went on to become Slovenia’s first Olympic champion and its most successful rower, and had a career that continued over six Olympic Games; nowadays, at the World Rowing Masters Regatta in his home country, he is still surrounded by boats and is still attracted to the same sport.

At Lake Bled Iztok Cop is always within reach of rowing.

He began his involvement as a teenager; he raced in the area and laid the foundation for a career that led him to compete in six Olympic Games, win seven Olympic medals, and secure multiple World Championship titles.

More than ten years after his last race at the 2012 London Games, he is back at the lake this time assisting rowers in getting onto the water rather than competing against them.

Cop works alongside Filippi, providing support to the athletes and overseeing the Italian boatbuilder’s rental service at major international regattas. This involves assisting thousands of rowers in finding the boats they need to compete at the 2026 World Rowing Masters Regatta.

“I’m a local from Bled, but here I work with the Filippi team, renting our boats,” he says.

It is a fitting role for a rower who has spent almost his entire life around the sport.

His international career started in the late 1980s. He secured junior world titles in 1989 and 1990, won a bronze medal at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics with Denis Zvegelj – Slovenia’s first Olympic medal as an independent country – and then switched to the single scull.

He took the World Championship title in the single event in 1995 before moving on to the double event with Luka Spik.

Cop and Spik formed one of the most notable pairs of their era, securing Olympic gold at the 2000 Games in Sydney—this being Slovenia’s first-ever Olympic gold medal—and also earning silver at the 2004 Athens Games and bronze at the 2012 London Games.

When he finally stopped racing after London, he did not really leave rowing behind.

“I was trying to prepare myself before I retired, so I started my company about 10 years before I retired,” he says.

An agreement with Filippi had opened up another possibility, and after his competitive career came to an end, he took on the role of the company’s sport director.

“I can tell you that I have a good job: I work with top athletes, introduce new models, help test the boats, and so on.”

He has now been engaged in it for nearly 15 years. “I enjoy this job; if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be carrying on with it for nearly 15 years now.”

At Bled, though, Cop sees a different side of rowing.

The Masters Regatta has attracted thousands of athletes from all over the world to the lake, a large number of them rowing in conditions that would put even the most dedicated rower to the test.

What the Cop respects most is that commitment.

“They came all over the world. They want to race as many times as possible,” he says.

The weather has not always cooperated. But the rowers keep coming.

“They are showing up no matter how bad the weather is. They want to race. They want to perform.”

The racing is only one aspect of it. Cop notices another thing about Masters rowing that might, in fact, be even more important: the gathering.

“I think that’s the main, the most important thing,” he says.

Masters rowing includes individuals who have been involved in the sport for many decades, former top athletes, members of rowing clubs and those who have always remained fond of rowing.

“You come here, enjoy the racing, try to race, and also this gathering, having fun after the races,” Cop says. “Spend a week with people who share the same passion with you.”

Cop understands that passion.

“When you’re involved in rowing, it’s really hard to get out of it,” he says. “It’s some weird passion we’re all sharing.”

It might be less surprising to him than he suspects, considering that he started rowing on this lake when he was a young teenager.

His own sporting career taught him the values he now carries into business: discipline, integrity, reliability, dedication and the understanding that there are no shortcuts.

“Sport shaped me. Business fulfils me,” he says.

Yet rowing continues to influence the way he views the world.

Standing on the shores of Lake Bled, with thousands of people coming from all over the world to race a boat, Cop at once realises that he knows the feeling.

He may have finished his Olympic career.

He may have moved from athlete to organiser, adviser and boatbuilder. But, like so many of the rowers gathered in Bled this week, he never really left rowing.