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Cloud over Great Britain successby Martin Gough - BBC Sport (U2505894) 03 September 2007   Great Britain took another big step towards Olympic success during the World Rowing Championships but there will be a cloud over the camp as they prepare for the winter. The results show an increase in strength in depth on last year’s championships – when they won two golds and a bronze in Olympics classes. But there is a significant negative in the form of the coxless four, the flagship men’s boat, who were well off the pace, beaten into fourth place in their final. Even the worst doom-monger would have predicted bronze after a season in which they have had to deal with Alex Partridge’s injury trouble. The headlines focused on coach Jurgen Grobler’s decision to move them into an eight for the World Cup event in Munich and in the days leading up to the World Championships his plan became clearer. Apparently fearing his four could be passed in the next 12 months, Grobler opted to make a major technical change, putting more focus on the leg drive. It would be easier to begin that process in a larger boat, and the change would have come under less scrutiny. In Saturday’s final, though, the pressure was clearly too much as the four struggled off the start and never looked able to affect the gear-change that would have been required to stay on the pace. Grobler, who does not need to finalise the line-up of his Olympic four until March at the earliest, has some time to ponder as he tries to ensure his record of a gold medal in every Olympic Games he has attended since 1972 is kept intact. And his oarsmen have an entire winter to take on board the technical changes they have been asked to implement. Given the success of Smith and Langridge, he is likely to continue with his “coxless six” strategy over the winter, and either of those two could move into the four, with Partridge looking under pressure. But he could always opt instead to switch the priority in boat class – as he did to the four after 2003, when Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell struggled in the pair. Such a move would probably result in Andy Hodge and Peter Reed taking over in the smaller boats. It is certainly not all doom and gloom for British rowing, but the flagship boat tends to take the headlines, and it appears to need the most work. Latest 10 commentsRead members' comments or add your own
comment by
askhams (U6670950) posted Sep 28, 2007 Like I said before, my GB experience is not what suggests that a differnet crew line up for the olympics is a good idea.
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askhams (U6670950) posted Sep 28, 2007 Oh and btw who are you? You havent left any clues. The general consensus between me and my rowing chums though is that kwikscull denotes slow scull....
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kwikscull (U6698848) posted Sep 28, 2007 You cna decide if I'm slow if you like. I know what I can do so I'm happy with that. I would argue you deserved gold if you won it, not Germany if they came second.
comment by
askhams (U6670950)
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kwikscull (U6698848) posted Sep 30, 2007 Don't beleive all a Birdie tells you I would say!!
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mosrow (U10127680) posted Oct 23, 2007 I'm amazed at all this navel-gazing by kwikscull & askhams. Get real! The UK team did brilliantly at Munich, and is easily the best-positioned of all of the major rowing nations for Beijing in 08. To dwell on the 4- is to miss the point; sure, it was the No.1 UK men's boat, but hallo? bronze in the 8 and 2-, and fourth in the 4-. Any other country would love those results. Take mine, Australia - after bronze in the M8 and fourth in the 4- (plus gold in 2-) at Athens, we haven't even qualified the 4 or 8. The plain fact is, the British four was never all that good and once the other countries took away their game plan by learning to go with them from the start, they were left exposed, because while big strong guys, they do not row very efficiently. GB won in Athens only because Ed Coode was in the crew, not in spite of it, just as they won because Tim Foster was in the three seat in Sydney 2000. Great oarsman as he was, Matthew Pinsent was hard to row with, and he rowed short under pressure (exposed definitively by Tompkins & Ginn in the 2-). Coode and Foster provided the lubrication for the rhythm behind him. The 4- at Beijing is still wide open - none of this year's medallists is a great crew, though Italy will get better, but if GB tries for more muscle without better technique, it will continue to be disappointed. The men's 8 on the other hand was a great performance on which they can build, and the women's quad were equally impressive. And GB men's lighties are back at last, after 20 years in the wilderness. Celebrate guys, it's not all about Jurgen's boat(s).
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rowingmum (U8673987) posted Nov 14, 2007 Sport might not be logical - but mosrow's logic beats the lot. Does he really want us to believe that in 2000 at Sydney the only reason Pinsent got a 3rd gold medal and Redgrave a 5th gold was because Foster was in the boat? Does he really want us to believe that in 2004 the only reason Pinsent got his 4th gold and Cracknell his 2nd was because Coode was in the boat ?! They were good rowers, but .....
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anon1985 (U10759511) posted Jan 2, 2008 whilst mosrow's talk of foster and coode is very plaudable, one must realise, that, as a rower, the combination of technical ability raw strength and endurance creates a fast boat. Every gold medal boat in every major competition has a mixture of rowers that compliment each other.
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askhams (U6670950) posted Feb 19, 2008 He is the daddy,
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askhams (U6670950) posted Feb 19, 2008 The quad the top boat in the sculling, avoid the kiwis, as where ever either of those big guys ends up, silver is as good as anyone can hope for. (Another reason to avoid the 4, Waddell has been seen in it) Comment on this article |
