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Cambridge guard against fatigue
Unique double the heady goal after rigours of intense build-up
Training zone: Rowing's James Cracknell compares notes with fellow Sydney medallist Katharine Merry
The final selection of the four
Countdown as five become four, and four become one
After Lucerne setback, rowing crew are desperate to atone with gold
Boyhood dreams are brought within reach
Countdown to Sydney
Bladerunner 1
Bladerunner 2
Boat Race: Race coverage gives inaccurate image
Cambridge guard against fatigue
Matt Pinsent and I had finished training. I told him I was off to Cambridge to go out in their eight. He left the changing room saying: "Don't blame me if it ruins your rowing." Having competed in the Boat Race three times for Oxford, Matt's feelings towards the opposing university are still there, albeit with some humour these days.
When Matt and I started training at 8am, Cambridge were just finishing their 6.30am gym session. After training they headed off to a morning of lectures. Matt and I got off the water, showered, changed kit, went for some breakfast and This Morning on television.
They were still in lectures as we started weight training. We finished training and had lunch, the Cambridge boys finished lectures, grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the mini-bus that takes them on the 30-minute journey to their boathouse, where they had a 22km row waiting for them. Who said students have an easy life?
Combining the training load of most full-time athletes while studying is physically and mentally demanding. They have to train this intensively as they have only six months to get in the best physical shape possible; to make sure they have got the best eight guys in the boat; and that they are moving the boat fast. Not an easy task for coach or athlete.
Cambridge base themselves in Ely, away from the packed stretch of river occupied by the college boatclubs. Here, they have their own training centre with an excellent fleet of boats, equipped with strain gauges (so each individual's contribution to the boat speed can be recorded and downloaded through a computer) and miles of water to themselves.
The quality of water is Cambridge's big advantage over Oxford. Whereas Oxford are at the mercy of the Thames and its now seemingly annual floods, the Cam never floods. Wind is the only element that forces Cambridge to lose water time. When you have only six months available to select and prepare your crew, every session counts. The British eight who won gold in Sydney chose to train here instead of going to an altitude camp in Austria. What better endorsement is there of your training set-up?
However, it is a dull, featureless stretch of water; the day I went the crew were told their outing that day was to the pylon and back. That pretty much sums it up. Cambridge train here solidly for six months with only a two-week break in Spain at Christmas. It is easy to get blase training around stunning scenery, but six months with almost no scenery or any other crews must drive you mad.
The 2002 Cambridge boat is once again stacked with talent. Only two of the crew are not full internationals. Together with Robin Williams, the coach who has worked with crews at the Olympics and helped coach the British eight last summer, they are an impressive unit.
I was looking forward to having a row among this talented line-up. Cambridge are renowned for rowing in a certain style for nearly the past 10 years - a legacy of the New Zealander Harry Mahon, who coached there regularly during this period as well as helping the British eight win gold in Sydney. Mahon died of cancer last year, having been involved in every Boat Race since 1993.
Sitting in the Cambridge eight there were familiar faces, or more accurately heads, from the British team in front of me. Rick Dunn, member of the coxless four who took gold at the 2001 World Championships, and Josh West, part of the eight who came fifth.
From the foreign legion the stars are an Australian, Stuart Welch, Olympic silver medallist in the eight at Sydney, a German, Sebastian Mayer, a two-time Olympic finalist, and an American, Sam Brooks, who finished one place ahead of West in the United States eight at last year's World Championships.
The Cambridge Blue Boat had only just been selected when I went out with them. For a crew who had only been out a few times, they already flowed well together.
This is a product of consistent coaching with a vision of exactly how they want the oarsmen to row. This makes it easier for the athlete to picture it in their minds and try to replicate it each time they go on the water. Months of swapping in and out of different boats ensures that the pattern of rowing is spread around the whole squad.
The first thing I noticed about the crew was their patience in picking up the water. They are a very powerful crew (the physiological data indicates this is Cambridge's strongest crew) and the tendency with a strong crew is to use that strength and bully the boat along.
Cambridge, however, have the confidence to take the time to place the blade accurately in the water and then drive with the legs. This ensures that the crew push together with a long stroke-length propelling the boat that bit further each time. You use one third of your energy on the recovery (travelling forwards to put the blades in the water again) when you aren't propelling the boat, therefore it is more efficient to row long strokes rather than shorter ones. Cambridge are a taller crew than Oxford and naturally have a longer stroke. They are rowing in a way that maximises this advantage.
I thought Cambridge would feel more powerful than they did, but it is no good making the rhythm feel powerful by `hitting it hard'. You have to move the boat. Force moves the boat and the greater the distance the force is applied over, the greater the boat speed. This is something that Cambridge do well. It is perhaps not the way that our coxless four or my pair with Matt row, but there are plenty of ways to skin a cat and the press are not always kind about the way we row.
It is important to remember that these crews are preparing to race for about 17 minutes, requiring a different emphasis than 2000m international racing, which lasts about six minutes. Cambridge have developed a rhythm and - arguably more important - a pattern of rowing that will serve them well when fatigue hits. That should happen somewhere around Hammersmith Bridge, when they still have another 10 minutes of racing to go.
Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, 22.3.02
Unique double - the heady goal after rigours of intense build-up
WE HAVE now completed the penultimate journey of our six-week tour of Europe's rowing lakes. The next leg is home and, if things go to plan, it will be with two World Championships gold medals. Following our altitude training in Austria, it was on to an acclimatisation camp on Lake Aiguebelette, just outside Lyon, which was the venue of the 1997 World Championships where the Sydney four won our first world title.
Perhaps it is a good omen that Matt Pinsent and I are launching our assault on Athens from this lake. Hopefully our progress to the 2004 Olympic Games will be smoother than our journey to this year's World Championships venue. The "short hop" across the Alps to Lucerne was anything but: the coach driver got confused because his destination was not an airport. After an eight-hour journey, 20 stiff, grumpy and dehydrated 6ft 4in-plus rowers unfolded themselves from the bus.
The journey was worth it; Lucerne is home to The Rotsee, commonly known as `God's Rowing lake'. Golf has St Andrews, tennis has Wimbledon, Formula One has Monaco, darts has Lakeside (three out of four ain't bad), and rowing has The Rotsee. It is 2,300 metres long, just wide enough for eight lanes. Beautiful hills enclose the course on all sides and trees by the banks give even more shelter. The wind, the rowers' enemy, rarely affects racing and the warm water encourages world record times. This is a natural swimming pool for rowing.
Moving to the course happened at the right time. Matt and I have been banging our heads against each other for the last two months. As racing approaches, tolerance decreases. Your relationship is tested, especially in a pair, because you row with each other during the day and share a room at night. Personal space is a rare commodity.
The crews are no longer imaginary. We don't have to chase shadows around the lake. They are here and at last we have something other than each other upon which to focus.
Seeing the course again is a great feeling. The adrenaline goes as you first catch a glimpse of it. Then you see hundreds of boats. The first hour is spent catching up with mates you haven't seen since the Olympics. Rowing creates great friendships: we all go through the same training to get here and relationships pick up where they left off.
This makes competition fierce. Losing to a stranger is devastating, but to a friend is unthinkable. Then there are guys you can only nod to and I discover yet again that my Romanian, Russian or Hungarian hasn't improved over the winter.
By doubling up in the coxed and coxless pairs we have made life physically harder for ourselves. However, switching boats every day forces the concentration level to be higher. Getting to world-class form in each boat in effectively half the time is a massive challenge. Racing starts tomorrow; we can't wait to be let off the leash. The finals are a week later. That is a long time to hold form. Doing two events ensures we won't be looking too far ahead.
The atmosphere will be amazing with rowers from around the world coming to watch. The bars will be full of oarsmen and women who raced each other, kept in touch and met up here. Matt and I have given ourselves the opportunity to do something nobody else has done, and win two gold medals. There is no better place to make rowing history. There is also no worse place to lose.
Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, 17.08.01
Training zone: Rowing's James Cracknell compares notes with fellow Sydney medallist Katharine Merry
Five months ago Katharine Merry and I were preparing for the biggest races of our lives. Although the sports are totally different - as was proved to me when I trained with Merry for a day - the cicumstances surrounding our events make for an interesting comparison.
The attention the coxless four received in the build up to Sydney, and the public's reaction to Steve Redgrave's attempt at a fifth gold medal, meant that in Britain this was the race of the games. Globally, the biggest race was, without question, was the women's 400 metres. Cathy Freeman, Australia's Aboriginal golden girl, was favourite.
For Merry an myself, focusing on our goal was made easier by outside influences. The pressure on the four to win, and the ridiculous media questioning of Steve's fitness, meant we drew together to take the challenge on.
Merry and the rest of her training group - Darren Campbell and Jamie Baulch - received bad press for training away from the British Olympic Association's acclimatisation camp. 'Because Linford Christie was banned we could not go where we wanted to go. We went and did our own thing and got a lot of stick for that,' she said.
But she felt the criticism made them a stronger unit. 'Darren said it publicly afterwards, anything that could have helped an athelet, like having their coach with them, should have been done. We did not have Linford with us at Sydney. We paid our own money to stay elsewhere and took a lot of flak. But when we performed we were the best thing since sliced bread.'
Any distractions that we had as a four were eclipsed by what Merry had to endure: the daily 'Will she/won't she run' debate surrounding Marie-Jose Perec, the defending 200m and 400m Olympic champion. Merry was not distracted by Perec's behaviour. 'I have known her a long time, it did not surprise me at all. It annoyed me when people said now that Perec was not here it opened the event up. I thought, hang on, she has only had one race this season and I beat her.'
For us, competing on Aussie shores in front of 40,000 people, with Australia as the olympic champions, was something we tried to turn to our advantage. Every cheer as we went down that course was for us.
For Merry, coping with 110,000 people cheering for your opponent as she is introduced to the crowd must have taken some mental preparation. She said: 'I tried to cater for the noise, the roar was deafening. I let it inspire me that the race was going to be as big as I thought it would be.'
Both of us had had to watch our training partners fail prior to racing ourselves. Ed Coode had raced in our four the previous season and had just missed out on selection for the crew in Sydney. In the pairs, with Greg Searle, he came fourth an hour before we raced in the final. It made us appreciate the fragile margin betewen seccess and failure.
Merry watched Baulch fail in the 400m although she did not see him after the race. 'I knew he would be devastated. It fired me up and made me more determined following the way we had been treated before the games.'
She ran a personal best 49.72 sec in the final in that cauldron of emotion the claim the bronze medal. Merry said: 'For that moment in time, for the shape I was in I couldn't have run the race any better.'
As I headed down the M4 to Cardiff in torrential rain to experience a day of Merry's training, I hped she would not be in form. Alas, the day before she had broken the British indoor 400m record in her first indoor race at that distance.
Having not seen Merry or the rest of team Linford - Campbell, Baulch, Paul Grey or Christian Malcolm - for a while, I had forgotton how small they are. As they are so well proportioned on television their size is deceptive. In real life they are pocket rockets. Arguably, my perspective is skewed by training with monsters like Steve and Matthew Pinsent every day.
Training for the day was weights followed by track work. The atmosphere among the group is lively, to say the least. Having Campbell and Baulch in the gym can only be described as training alongside a couple of Energiser Bunnies.
'I've known Darren and Jamie since I was 13 or 14. We are good friends and have a laugh,' Merry says. 'It does mean training takes twice as long as it should do.'
The emphasis is on quality and being dynamic. Every lift done with speed and power. Our training is about muscular endurance. Every session we do is about sweat and pusle rates.
The speed the possess enables them to generate huge force, lifting a large weight for their size. While I was lifting, Campbell would give 'helpful' advice 'you're a strong man but you have no speed' or 'your fibres twitch so slow I can see them.'
Having performed OK in the first session thaks to strength rather than speed, I realised that that would be of no use on the track. I thought I'd worry about that after luch. Here I discovered why track and field atheletes are so lean: they neglect to eat anything. It was well over two hours since I had last eaten. By now our training group would be tucking into some food.
The track work consisted of bounding - jumping two-footed over a series of hurdles. This exercise required co-ordinated dynamic movement and, vitally, rhythm. Not one of my traits.
Next came the sprints. Darren's commentary when I was running with Merry pretty much summed up my performance: 'We don't need no slow motion with you down her.' I was left plotting my revenge if he ever came down to Henley.
Having trained with Merry, I decided I wasn't from the same species. I definitely have no genes similar to those of either a kangaroo or a cheetah. Although we are both world-class performers, someone being able to run that much faster than me blew my mind.
After two hours on the river the next morning I thought of Merry powering down the track in preparation for tomorrow's British Grand Prix at Birmingham. This will be her second indoor race this season. The World Indoor Championships are not her goal: that lies in Edmonton, Canada, venue of the outdoor World Championships in August.
Hopefully this will be the year when the girl who was so talented so young, who made her British under-20 debut at 13, wins her first World Championship title.
Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, 17.02.01
Into the third millennium, by James Cracknell
As great as the millennium celebrations were combined with the significance and excitement of entering the 21st century none of it really grabbed me. The fireworks that I am looking forward to mark the start of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. With the significant date being the 23rd of September, this is the landmark I have been waiting for. Has the training paid off? Did we produce our best performance on the day that mattered? What am I going to do now?
Just before the New Year I was asked for my sporting predictions for some of the events happening in 2000. Here I realised the blinkered outlook I have on this year. Although I knew that Euro 2000 was also happening this summer somehow only the Olympics exist in my mind as happening this year and I was surprised by number of other sporting events taking place.
Hopefully 2000 will be a great year for British sport; this would be an excellent way to enter the next century. The Olympic Team has the potential to show the way for British sport. Many athletes from a variety of sports seem to be timing their push right for the most important year. I am sure that the results will be much improved from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics justifying the lottery funding that has transformed many athletes' lives. Allowing them to train consistently and fulfil their potential.
Although September still seems a long way off if the speed that the last few months have gone by is any indication of how fast it will go the Olympics will be on top of us in no time at all. We are now half way through the bulk of winter training; so far things have gone pretty well. For the first time since the formation of the coxless four we have enough people to row in one at Christmas. The last two winters have been disrupted by long term illness to both Steve and Tim. This year we actually have more people than seats. Even my maths tells me that five into four doesn't go.
Officially the fourth seat is being battled for by Tim who was injured last year and rowed in the eight and Ed who raced in the four. Everybody is performing well but each of us has an area where they are not as strong so nobody feels too safe. Jurgen has the unenviable task of deciding the final line up. Steve says he has the seats at home and is not bringing them back unless one is his. Other helpful suggestions have included musical chairs.
People have said that it is advantageous to have five people going for four seats as the training will be more competitive and training will have that extra edge. If that sort of motivation is needed in Olympic year then something is wrong; there can be no more incentive than a gold medal. If Tim and Ed weren't so laid back the tension could have made training together strained but their sense of humour has made it work well.
Inevitably we look towards and talk about the racing ahead, at present that is not possible, as nobody knows what the crew will be. No doubt there will be plenty of time to look ahead when the four is chosen and we spend most of the time together. Infact it is probably best we don't use up all our best conversations too early in the year.
The uncertainty surrounding the selection of the four is not mirrored in the planning of our training. From now until the Olympics we know what we are doing everyday. There is a lot of training between now and then with very little racing so up until the first World Cup Regatta at the beginning of June there are goals both personal and as a crew that we will be working towards. The motivation for the Olympics is immeasurable but it is still necessary to have those targets so we remain both focused and always progressing, so we are ready when it really matters.
Entering the third millennium will make this year special for everybody but for the coxless four this year is what it is all about. Since it's formation this has been the season that we will be judged on, the three previous World Championships now mean nothing only the Olympic gold will do.
I'm sure that in all the sporting events scheduled for this year there will be some fantastic performances but surely there will be nothing better than watching the first Olympics of the new Millennium to see if Steve can win his fifth gold. I'll certainly be wishing him luck.
Courtesy of Coxless4.com
The final selection of the four, by James Cracknell
The feeling of deja vu at the press announcement of the Olympic four on April 14th was overwhelming. It was the same crew in the same room at Leander Club that was unveiled in April 1997. The Sydney Olympics seemed an eternity away then, I was only thinking about our first World Cup race at Munich. Our first race this season is Munich; the difference is that the Olympics are now less than six months away.
At last we know the crew. When we were told just prior to the press conference who was in it came as no real surprise, Tim has had the edge over Ed for the last couple of months. Choosing between them has been such a difficult decision it has been delayed twice.
With more people than seats winter training could have been a testosterone filled period. As Tim and Ed are the two most laid back people in the team this situation never arose, it was never really allowed to as Jurgen made them share a room when we went away on camps.
Frustration with the situation started to increase as spring came and Sydney came into view but there was no way Jurgen was going to give in to any pressure from us to rush his decision.
We all knew that the April pairs trial would be the last event before the decision was made. This only served to increase the atmosphere surrounding the pairs regatta. The top three pairs were expected to be from the Henley training centre namely Coode/Searle, Cracknell/Foster and the inexperienced pair of Redgrave/Pinsent.
For Tim and I motivation was easy to find with Tim aiming to secure his seat in the four and both of realising that this was the last time Steve and Matt would be racing together so we had to beat them now if were ever going to.
All the pairs training together made for a fun filled relaxed atmosphere especially as race day approached and training times showed that it was going to be a cracking race.
The last few days before racing I could feel Tim and I were gathering speed with each outing; this was shown during the regatta where we got better with every race. The final went exactly how we had planned leading from start to finish having one of those rows where you seem to get speed for nothing, very nice but very rare.
The quality of all six pairs in the final was outstanding; things are looking good for Sydney.
Although Ed did not make the four there are a couple of great options for him. He could replace Tim in last years silver medal eight or row a pair with Greg Searle after their second place in the trials.
Now though the route is set for Sydney we know our crew and we are off, I get a shiver down my spine whenever I think about it. My life's ambition is so close and it is within our control to achieve it, if we don't win we will have failed. Our desire far outweighs any pressure that outside influences can place on us.
The only drawback is that I am rooming with Tim again and six months of Spandau Ballet and ABC beckon.
Courtesy of Coxless4.com
THE five has been a four for over a week now. In the end the decision was not a surprise: during the last two months Tim Foster produced a series of performances that gave him the upper hand. It would have taken something very special from Ed Coode at the national pairs trial to turn that around. After finishing second to Tim and me there was no real doubt about the personnel in the four. Ed will probably race with Greg Searle at the first World Cup Regatta for which they will be among the favourites. Although they didn't win the trial they did beat Steve Redgrave and Matt Pinsent. Not many pairs have done that.
Having spent the previous three weeks preparing to race against your crewmates, the transition to rowing together has been seamless. This season is all about the four; nothing else matters. The faith we have in each other is total, none of us believes there is an oarsman who could strengthen our crew and beyond that I feel we are a better crew than the sum of our parts.
Now the decision has been made we feel that the brakes have been released, the Olympics are within sight. The more intensive preparation following the stamina-building winter's training really starts now. Having said that, we expected a few days of lighter training following trials but apparently 'what comes from rowing goes from rowing'. We can vouch for the wettest April on record.
With the first World Cup Regatta at Munich only five weeks away the selection of other countries' fours are beginning to be confirmed.
This adds some spice to the training, where the workload remains high for the next three weeks in preparation for the defence of our World Cup series. Due to injuries this will be the third successive year that the first race of the season has seen a different line-up in the four from the one that won the World Championship the previous year.
This gives the preparation an extra edge, as racing in the unknown is always exciting. The last time we raced in this combination was the 1998 World Championship final.
There are four months between Munich and the Olympic final - a long time to hold form. This is something that we do not have to worry about. Our coach, Jurgen Grobler, has coached a gold medal at every Olympics since 1972 (apart from East Germany's boycott of Los Angeles) and our confidence in him and his programme is absolute. We are aiming to go through this season as we did the last one: undefeated.
That is easy to say but harder to achieve. In rowing the Olympics is everything. You can win World Championships but if you do not win the Olympics you have never truly been at the top. People forget world champions but not Olympic ones. The World Championships are important but the rowing is about the Olympics.
The competition will be tougher; our opposition's winter training will have been of higher quality and with more focus. Most probably we have been the attention of that focus. From the formation of the four in 1997 the Sydney Olympics has been the only race we absolutely have to win and despite all of our success over the last three years anything but gold is failure.
This attitude applies to any of the true Olympic sports, by that I mean any sport where the greatest prize of that sport is winning the Olympics. Besides rowing, sports such as athletics, swimming and gymnastics also exemplify this. Competitors in tennis, football and baseball cannot feel the same way about an Olympic gold medal; it does not mean the same as winning Wimbledon, the World Cup or the World Series. There may be a nice bonus from the sponsor but ask a tennis player or footballer what they most want to win and I doubt they would say the Olympics.
The way the four of us feel about this summer's Games is what sport is all about, I think about it every day and even after winning four gold medals Steve is the same. Now each of us knows the other three with whom they are going to try to make this dream come true. It is not long now.
Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, Monday 24 April 2000
After Lucerne setback, rowing crew are desperate to atone with gold, By James Cracknell
WRITING this from our altitude training camp in Silvretta, Austria, just above Galtur the memory of our defeat three weeks ago in Lucerne has not faded. The pain is something that none of us want to go through again and in the grand scheme of things that race was of zero importance. But it really hurt. I cannot imagine my feelings if we fail to win the gold in Sydney.
Our aim was to remain undefeated this season. That is now not possible. What is, and I would like to think a a certainty, is that we are going win in Sydney. This is the race that we have said the four should be judged on. Anything other than gold is a failure.
That may sound arrogant but that is what we all believe. Our faith in each other is absolute and we know if we produce our best row at the Olympics nobody will beat us. We now have to go out and produce it on Sept 23 and as we found in Lucerne, anything but our best is not going to be good enough.
Why did we lose at Lucerne? Obviously we have been over the race and a number of reasons have been suggested - too much racing, too much training between the races and not being on top of our rowing technically. These may have been contributing factors but we under-performed and were unable to respond when the race started to go away from us. There can be no excuses in Sydney.
We had a week of training away from each other already planned after Lucerne due to the Olympics being so late in the year. It was supposed to be a time for relaxing and had been eagerly anticipated for months. Going into this period having lost was not part of the plan. None of us could get Lucerne out of our heads and we were all itching to get on with it after a couple of days.
I honestly believe that we will be faster in Sydney because we were beaten. The position we are in now is also psychologically easier. In the past we have always been expected to win and winning has been a relief rather than the adrenaline-fuelled joy that comes with victory as an underdog. Winning in Sydney will feel very different. Now we are no longer clear favourites and the only ones with something to lose, other crews now believe they can win and they have to cope with that.
We are halfway through our time up the mountain and we are thinking only of the benefit that we are getting of training with less oxygen. Galtur has not been the most geographically stable region recently with fatal avalanches during the last two winters. The common theme so far has been rain leading to flooding in the valley below us. Hopefully we will not be stranded up here.
Since the formation of the four we have come here every season and it is the perfect place to train. We are isolated from the outside world. There is only a lake, a restaurant, our army accommodation and mountain walkers around, not forgetting the wild horses that I had to chase away from outside my window last night. Apparently the Russians have the same problems with bears at their altitude set-up, so that made my midnight horse-chasing look less heroic.
Following our defeat at Lucerne, this is the best place we can be here as the media make no demands and we can get on with our preparation. Our focus has stepped up to another level and this may not have happened if we hadn't lost. The quality of training has improved and we are constantly asking ourselves questions physically, mentally and technically. This will continue every session from now until the final takes place in Sydney.
Whatever reasons we put the defeat down to there is no way we can be 100 per cent sure that it was only us going slower. We were certainly not at our best but how much have the other crews improved? Can they repeat that form? Was our poor performance a one off? It is questions like this that will make sure we get the most out of each day left before the Games.
Coming up the mountain has made us a tighter unit, mentally prepared for how hard it is going to be to achieve our goal. Unity and mental strength will be vital when we move into the British Olympic Association's acclimatisation camp in Brisbane at the end of the month and more so when we enter the cauldron of the Olympic Village two weeks later.
Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph, Monday 14 August 2000
Rowing: Boyhood dreams are brought within reach, By James Cracknell
Throughout the four years that our crew have been together, Steve Redgrave and Matt Pinsent have always said that nothing would prepare us for the attention we would get during the build-up for Sydney. Maybe I have been naive in thinking that the press attraction of a minority sport such as rowing had narrow boundaries and that the attention would not affect me.
What I failed to realise was the anticipation and excitement generated by the Olympics in Britain, and what being successful at the Olympics does to your image in the public eye. Training with Steve every day, he is just one of the crew. Although you know what he has achieved you somehow forget what it actually means. It is not until you are with him in public that you realise how much he is admired in Britain. He is identified with the Olympics and he always wins.
Since our final race in Lucerne, interest in the four has been increasing. Being beaten in that race gave us the most press we have ever received. Personally I found it hard answering the questions about why we lost, as I had already moved on in my mind. It was frustrating reliving those memories again. That loss still hurts and that feeling won't go until we have won the Olympics.
The attention from the press was predictable, but it was the response from the public that has amazed me. Following the screening of the BBC's Gold Fever, a documentary that we filmed over 3.5 years, the television viewing figures and good luck messages on our website have astounded us. We were at our altitude camp in Austria when the programmes were aired. Arriving at Heathrow so many people wished us well for Sydney that by the time we got through customs the adrenalin was flowing freely and we felt ready to race.
We are now well established in our base on Queensland's Gold Coast. Hopefully the name is a good omen. The acclimatisation camp that the British Olympic Association (BOA) have set up is fantastic (a few days in Australia and the Aussies' constant use of that word starts to rub off). But using it to describe a camp which nearly every British athlete will pass through en route to the Olympic Village is totally justified.
The rowers were among the first to arrive. We have since been joined by athletes from most other sports, with those from track and field livening up the place most recently. Getting used to having athletes from other sports around, and the distraction which that creates, should make the transition into the Olympic Village much easier. I'm sure there will be a better atmosphere throughout the British team as people get to know one another prior to moving to Sydney.
Our own preparation is going well. We have recovered from jet lag, and are no longer waking naturally at 5am. Instead our alarm clocks drag us out of bed as we try (without much success) to get used to waking up early in preparation for our race time in Sydney. Body-clock wise we are somewhere over Indonesia.
We have a fantastic (that word again) reservoir to train on. The BOA and the Gold Coast Council have laid a 2,000-metre course especially for us. This is a part of the season we all enjoy. The training load has come down and we have entered the speed-work phase, training at a high intensity over short distances with the aim of increasing the maximum boat speed. Jurgen Grobler, our coach, says that we have eaten the main course and are now on to the dessert.
This specific training means that racing is only just around the corner. This season's training started 11.5 months ago, and now that there is only a week until our first race, the long winter mileage all seems worth it. Hopefully we will still feel that way in two weeks.
The atmosphere in the four is one of anticipation. We can't wait to get on with racing. It is here that Steve and Matt's experience is invaluable to Tim Foster and me, ensuring that we don't get too wound up too early. I think they will have a job on their hands controlling my emotions.
Dreams are becoming dominated by the course, our opposition and crossing the line, but strangely there are no images of the Olympics. It seems wrong that so many people should be competing in Sydney at the same time that I am. For the last four years this race has been my long-term goal and motivation, but in many ways that is not connected to the Games. For me the Olympics start when our race is over.
As we enter the last two weeks of a four-year mission so many thoughts are running through my head. I am in the marvellous position of racing at the Olympics with my hero, who is prepared to trust me with his Olympic record. I am in a situation where I have no Olympic medal, but winning anything other than gold is a failure. I know we are the fastest crew in the world, but the last time we raced we were soundly beaten. I compete in a minority sport, yet millions of people have watched three years of my life on television. I have the chance to make a great sport look as terrific on television as it is to participate in.
Most importantly, I am fortunate to have the chance to fulfil my boyhood dream of winning an Olympic gold medal, and doing it with three people I trust and admire.
Courtesy of The Daily Telegraph
Countdown to Sydney, by James Cracknell
This years training started on September 23rd exactly one year from the date of our Olympic final. We all arrived at the clubhouse knowing how important this season is going to be. It is the most important year of my rowing career and that of the coxless four's, this is the year that we have to win. Having won the last three World Championships we enter the Olympic season as favourites with the Australians who have won the last two Olympics and silver medallists at this years World Championships close behind us.
As the Olympics get closer the pressure will begin to mount on our crew and one person especially; Steve Redgrave who rows in the number two seat in our boat is going for his fifth gold medal in his fifth Olympic Games, having already won in Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta. Hopefully as there are four of us in the crew the rest of us can help to take some of the pressure from him so that it does not affect the four's performance.
To make sure that we produce our best performance at the Sydney Olympics we have to train in the best conditions, this means going on training camps throughout the year so we can avoid the worst of the British winter. We will also be going to altitude to train three times before the Olympics something that can not be done in Britain. We have recently returned from a training camp in Australia and will go to Spain both before and after Christmas.
Our racing season starts at the beginning of June when there is the three race World Cup Series followed by Henley Royal Regatta and the Olympics in September. With so few races it is important we get it right every time. But most importantly on September 23rd 2000.
Courtesy of Coxless4.com
Bladerunner:James Cracknell
'My weekend on Lucerne's Rotsee was not what I expected. It rained almost non-stop for three days, we lost the four and then I had to sub in the eight (which was nice). The rain can be explained by a low-pressure weather system in the Swiss Alps, the loss in the four has taken more analysis and my appearance in the eight was due to Louis Attril's stiff back.
Losing in Lucerne has been hard to take. We desperately wanted to remain unbeaten in this combination, winning the Olympics in our last race together. We are still going for victory in the only race that truly matters.
Fatigue from racing three weekends out of four and not rowing as well technically as we have in the past may well have had an effect, but we have to look within ourselves for the reasons why we did not deliver the goods.
Our belief in the four's boat speed is not in doubt. Losing has made us examine our training, technique and mental preparation prior to Lucerne so we can make sure we do not let this happen again. No matter how angry we are at having let ourselves and Jurgen down in Lucerne, there is no comparison with what we will be feeling if we do not achieve our objective in Sydney.
I am sure we will be faster in Sydney because of Lucerne. No crew has come out of nowhere and won. The crews that beat us we have beaten already this season, and they have all beaten eachother, so now at least four crews believe they can win at Sydney. The drewback with being defeated is that the other crews believe they can beat us. Through the heats and semis of the Olympics we aim to remove that belief again.
There has been a lot of press coverage surrounding our defeat although Henman & Co. losing to Ecuador in the Davis cup probably spared us more headlines. Stating Steve's age and whether five Olympic golds is now a reality do nothing but spur us on. It winds Steve up which is not a wise thing to do, as he will make such statements come back to haunt you. It also winds the rest of us up. We are a close crew, and doubting one member will only make us closer and more determined.
The reason we have so much confidence is that there is nobody in any of the other fours who would make our boat go faster. That is why we do not win we let ourselves down on September 23.'
Courtesy of Regatta Magazine
Bladerunner: James Cracknell
'What I am feeling now cannot be summed up by words. I became an Olympic champion five hours ago and I feel better with every one that goes by. The 24 hours leading up to the race were horrible. Four years of training and 14 years of dreaming were to be decided in one six minute race. It was not the pressure on us to win that weighed down on us, but the pressure of producing the best race on the day that matteres. If we had failed today then it would be four ears before we could do anything about it. By then our moment would have gone.
Our crew meeting the night before the final was something I will never forget. The emotions that the chance of winning an Olympic gold medal bring out are amazing. We spoke about what we had been through both individually and as a crew. Steve and Matt said what being an Olympic champion means to them. Tim talked about what it was like getting so close but ultimately missing out on gold in Atlanta. I just tried to hold back the tears.
Our message to eachother was simple. It was our medal, we deserved it, and nobody was going to take it from us. I felt so priviledged to have a chance of winning an Olympic gold medal with this crew. We have the best coach and the other three are the best atheletes in the world. All the attention has been on Steve's fifth gold. What about Matt's third? Tim, my pairs partner throughout the season, has been through so much over the last two years, he deserves this more than anyone. The medals our ours, and only one colour matters.
Our pre-race paddle was pretty good, now all we had to do was relax until starting out warm up. Easier said than done, as we could hear the commentary of the races before us. What we had predicted as clear races were turning into close ones. We were handed extra motivation during our warm up when Ed Coode and Greg Searle were raced out of the medals in the coxless pairs. Ed, who was in the group of five for the four until April, deserved so much more than that. I am devastated for him.
Five hours later, and the race is starting to become clear in my mind. The first 1000m went as planned. Heading into the second half we were well in control. The Italians' push in the third 500m was held, their charge in the last 300m was handled as well. We always had just enough, but it was close.
The number of British supporters there astounded us. They made it so special.
Right now I feel lucky to have achieved my dream in a boat with not one legend, but three. Hopefully we have done rowing and, more imprtantly, British sport some good today. Whatever the future holds for me, there is one thing nobodycan take away. I am an Olympic champion.'
Courtesy of Regatta Magazine
Boat Race: Race coverage gives inaccurate image
By James Cracknell
IF you mention rowing in Britain, people will ask "as in the Boat Race, Henley Regatta
or that Steve Redgrave bloke?" and accompany the comment with a curious rocking
motion, somewhere between that of a canoeist and a jockey. In Europe the view of
rowing is different. There it is regarded first and foremost as a hardcore athletic sport
alongside cross-country skiing and cycling rather than an occasion for a glass of
Pimm's down by the river.
The massive coverage of the Boat Race creates an inaccurate image of British rowing
as a sport engaged in by students and public-school boys.
Every year, a week before the Boat Race, the men's Head of the River - 500 eights
competing in a time trial - is rowed over the same course. The vast majority of the
crews are club oarsmen, not schoolboys and students. For this event a college scarf is
certainly not the required dress code for spectators. Unfortunately, on Boat Race day a
lot of spectators are interested in the Boat Race, but not rowing. Many of them would
probably not be able to pick Steve Redgrave out of a line-up. You wouldn't find many
people at the FA Cup final unable to recognise Alan Shearer.
The shop window that the Boat Race gives rowing is great, it shows it, in some form,
to people who would otherwise not watch. No minority sport gets such good viewing
figures, airtime and space in the national press.
The Boat Race is a huge draw for rowers and at the right stage of your academic and
rowing career it is a great opportunity. In the 1993-94 season I had a place at Oxford
but decided not to take it up for two reasons. First, I didn't feel the course would have
sent me in the direction that I wanted to go. Second, I felt it was more important to
stabilise my position in the national team with the Atlanta Olympics only two years
away. So far I have not regretted it, especially as Oxford did not fare too well that
year.
One of the most frequently asked questions is how would the winner do at the
Olympics? The standard of the crews is high. They are heavily sponsored (something
which the national team still does not have), giving them access to top coaches and
facilities. Compared with an international crew their speed is hard to gauge. They train
twice a day, six days a week but they have to study as well and do not have eight
international standard athletes. As they are at their peak now, six months prior to the
World Championships, they would give any eight a good race.
Preparing for the race must be very different from the preparation for an international
season. There are only six months in which to make physical and technical
improvements and select the fastest crew. Only racing one other crew and knowing
your opposition for weeks in advance must make it very intense and focused.
Rowers watching the build up from the outside know who should win but the crews
have to convince themselves they will win in order to compete over the course, making
defeat even harder to take, especially due to the publicity.
Around 400 million people in 160 countries watch the race with 250,000 lining the
course. The tradition of the event obviously attracts viewers. I feel the race stands out
more now in sport as it has remained amateur. Others watch it for the same reason as
people watch the Grand National, to see if the crew they bet on wins. The build up
helps with the introduction of each member of the crew, giving them a personality and
adding something extra. Races at the World Championships and Olympics are more
exciting but spectators can get involved only when there are personalities in the race,
such as Steve Redgrave going for his fourth gold in Atlanta.
The evil side of me enjoys the race as I hope for a strong headwind to make it longer,
the water rougher and the differences between the crews less. A good bit of clashing
always goes down well followed by a crab or two (where the rower loses control of
the oar, it goes behind his head and stops the boat). What could be better on a
Saturday afternoon? Especially as it is somebody else other than me struggling through
the wind.
Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph
Rowing: Countdown as five become four, and four become one, by James Cracknell
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