AUSTRALIA: ROWING - OLYMPICS LONDON 2012 - Amongst rowers aiming for London 2012 are one man looking for his fourth Olympic gold, another warned he wouldn't get there at all and a women's team trying to shake off the ghost of Olympics past
Record ID:
330725
AUSTRALIA: ROWING - OLYMPICS LONDON 2012 - Amongst rowers aiming for London 2012 are one man looking for his fourth Olympic gold, another warned he wouldn't get there at all and a women's team trying to shake off the ghost of Olympics past
- Title: AUSTRALIA: ROWING - OLYMPICS LONDON 2012 - Amongst rowers aiming for London 2012 are one man looking for his fourth Olympic gold, another warned he wouldn't get there at all and a women's team trying to shake off the ghost of Olympics past
- Date: 12th May 2012
- Summary: PENRITH, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA (MAY 10, 2012) (REUTERS) MENS EIGHT / MENS COXLESS FOUR ROWING AT SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL REGATTA CENTRE MENS COXLESS FOUR / MENS EIGHT ROWING MENS FOUR CREW MEMBERS WALKING TOWARDS CAMERA MENS FOUR CREW (LEFT TO RIGHT) DREW GINN, JAMES CHAPMAN, JOSH DUNKLEY-SMITH AND WILL LOCKWOOD (SOUNDBITE) (English) DREW GINN, COXLESS PAIRS OLYMPIC CHAMPION, TALKING ABOUT PAST HISTORY SAYING: "It's not part of the process, not for me, not for us. And the thing is every Games that you go to, that's what I've noticed, is you treat it as a completely distinct event and it is separate from all the others and no track record makes a difference. For us, the biggest thing is to get ourselves through the season, get ourselves on the start line for the final. And once you are in the final, anything can happen. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. And that's the attitude we've taken to it, and that's the attitude I've got to take to it as well. History and track records and stats and anything like that don't count for anything in the grand scheme of things." MENS COXLESS PAIR DUNCAN FREE AND TOM LARKINS DUNCAN FREE SHOWING OFF THE SCAR ON HIS UPPER THIGH (SOUNDBITE) (English) DUNCAN FREE, COXLESS PAIRS OLYMPIC CHAMPION. TALKING ABOUT HIS HOPES TO QUALIFY AND WIN IN LONDON, SAYING: "That's the plan. I like to upset people. I like to prove people wrong. My surgeon, who's been encouraging the whole way along and who's been really good along with all the support staff around me, the physios, the doctors and everyone else it's been a bit of a team that's got me there. And family's been a big part as well to help me through the tough times because you can start to doubt yourself. When you can't walk, you're on crutches for fifteen months, you can't walk, you can't even lift your leg up, laying on a bed for ages and you think 'man, is this actually ever going to heal?' And when you start to see the improvements it encourages you for the next step. So, I was literally taking one step at a time." VARIOUS WOMENS EIGHT WOMENS EIGHT TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PHOEBE STANLEY, WOMENS EIGHT STROKE, SAYING: "I'm hoping we've changed it, yeah. It's a pretty positive group. We've got a great coach and I feel we've got the right sort of balance of mature heads and the young girls coming through and I think Nick's not too over-powering. He lets us still be very independent and run the show ourselves and I think that's really important at our level that coaches don't overstep the mark a bit and let you be in charge of your own destiny kind of thing. I think sometimes that's what happened in the past. You know it's very hard coordinating a lot of bodies in the eight, sometimes it can get a little bit too dictatorship and the girls can lose a little bit of that responsibility or independence. But with Nick he's very relaxed and happy and just lets us make the decisions ourselves and I think that's what's really helped us develop very quickly into a really succinct sort of working unit." VARIOUS OF ROWERS TRAINING
- Embargoed: 27th May 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Australia
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVAEZUDAHX73P2SIPETA7HYMNEZH
- Story Text: Australia's Olympic rowers on Thursday (May 10) are taking part in their final team workout before heading for Europe and a programme leading to the London Olympics.
Most crews are already selected including the men's four which sees Drew Ginn, aged 37, James Chapman (32), Josh Dunkley-Smith (22) and Will Lockwood (23).
For a man who has a chance to become Australia's most decorated Olympic oarsman in London later this year, Drew Ginn is surprisingly dismissive of the importance of pedigree in achieving success at the Games.
Ginn is heading to London in search of his fourth Olympic gold in his fourth Games and determined to upset the hosts by reclaiming the coxless fours title he won as part of Australia's "Oarsome Foursome" in Atlanta 16 years ago.
After winning more golds in the coxless pairs in Athens and Beijing, Ginn returns to the four-man boat for London, where he could better the Olympic record of compatriot James Tomkins and draw within a single title of Briton Steve Redgrave's historic haul.
Ginn told Reuters that he doesn't think about records or statistics until someone mentions it.
"It's not part of the process, not for me, not for us. And the thing is every Games that you go to, that's what I've noticed, is you treat it as a completely distinct event and it is separate from all the others and no track record makes a difference. For us, the biggest thing is to get ourselves through the season, get ourselves on the start line for the final. And once you are in the final, anything can happen. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. And that's the attitude we've taken to it, and that's the attitude I've got to take to it as well. History and track records and stats and anything like that don't count for anything in the grand scheme of things," he said.
Since Ginn helped Australia win a second successive gold in the event in Atlanta, Britain have ruled supreme for the last three Games and are reigning world champions.
Ginn concedes that winning gold at the Eton lake in August will be a "battle", especially as the host nation, like Australia, have made the event a priority and packed their team with their best talent.
Over 200 boats have already qualified for London but another 28 places are still free and will be decided in Lucerne's world rowing cup meeting starting May 20.
Rowing Australia have set themselves an internal target of three golds in London and National High Performance Director Andrew Matheson would not be greatly surprised if the men's coxless four upset the British to provide one of them.
In the gold winning coxless pair with Ginn in Beijing was Duncan Free and he hopes to defend his title in London despite being told by a surgeon that he would not compete in 2012. Since then Free has made a remarkable recovery from the serious leg injury he suffered last year when he was knocked off his bike. The accident shattered his femur and left him on crutches for 15 months and posed him a new challenge, not just to qualify, but to win.
"That's the plan. I like to upset people. I like to prove people wrong,' he said, showing off the scar on his thigh.
"When you can't walk, you're on crutches for fifteen months, you can't walk, you can't even lift your leg up, laying on a bed for ages and you think 'man, is this actually ever going to heal?' And when you start to see the improvements it encourages you for the next step. So, I was literally taking one step at a time," he said.
After the "Lay-Down Sally" row of 2004 and a disappointing sixth place four years later, a hastily assembled crew of women rowers are aiming decisively to bury the curse of the Olympic coxed eight boat in London this year.
But for a public campaign and pressure from the rowers themselves, Australia would not be entering a crew for the event at all and stroke Phoebe Stanley and her team mates are determined to make the most of their late chance.
They were hastily assembled this year after pressure from athletes and from supporters using social media prompted a change of mind by the authorities.
First, however, they must negotiate the final qualifiers in Lucerne from May 20-23, where they will race-off against Germany, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia with the top two going on to London.
It was in the eights final at the Athens Olympics that the Sally Robbins inexplicably stopped rowing 400 metres from the end to leave Australia last and trigger an acrimonious national row that even drew comment from the prime minister.
Robbins failed in her bid to make the team for Beijing, but the crew some fancied as genuine medal contenders again finished sixth and last in the final, leading to talk of a curse. This is a notion Stanley is keen to leave behind.
"I'm hoping we've changed it, yeah. It's a pretty positive group. We've got a great coach and I feel we've got the right sort of balance of mature heads and the young girls coming through and I think Nick's not too over-powering. He lets us still be very independent and run the show ourselves and I think that's really important at our level that coaches don't overstep the mark a bit and let you be in charge of your own destiny kind of thing. I think sometimes that's what happened in the past. You know it's very hard coordinating a lot of bodies in the eight, sometimes it can get a little bit too dictatorship and the girls can lose a little bit of that responsibility or independence. But with Nick he's very relaxed and happy and just lets us make the decisions ourselves and I think that's what's really helped us develop very quickly into a really succinct sort of working unit," she said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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