Day I: Sunday 20 August
A quick chat with Drew Ginn and Duncan Free
Drew Ginn and Duncan Free won their heat with an impressive, controlled row. Afterwards, Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph spoke to them for their first world championship race post-mortem and of what we can expect later this week.
Drew Ginn
Rupert Guinness: First up, how did you feel about that first row of the week in your heat?
Drew Ginn: It was good. It’s always good to get that first hit-out of the week behind you. You are always a bit anxious … about how you will go and to see what the others have to offer. But we executed a good race I thought.
RG: Your splits were good for the first 1000. But the Chinese were fastest at the first 500m. Was that a surprise?
DG: The Chinese were a good measure for us. The put in a fair stick there and set the pace for the first 500m or 1000m. But I wasn’t really surprised. They are fast starters. They did that at Poland at the World Cup. It was very similar. They led at the 500m. So we expected that pace. But then today we got that half-length lead on them and moved away. But you can tell from today that they are really serious about getting ready for Beijing and the 2008 Olympics, about getting some good crews on the water.
RG: You finished rating pretty low today. What rating were you at?
DG: ‘Dunc’ mentioned we were rating about 31 with about 750m to go. Obviously then we dropped it nearer the finish. But that’s always the case when you get a length of clear water in a heat. As soon as you do you start thinking about conserving as much energy as possible.
RG: Looking at your splits for the first 500m and 1000m marks, you must feel good when you compare them to the other heat winners, New Zealand and South Africa.
DG: Yeah ... we had a look at the times. And when you do you can only really judge by the 500m and 1000m marks in a heat. We were buoyed by what we saw at the 500m, 1000m and even the 1500m. We may have been helped slightly by the conditions, I don’t know. And that can all change in the final race. Also, the other crews may have had more of a hit out in their heat than we did. Hopefully we have kept our powder dry and will still have it for when we really need it.
RG: Looking at today’s results, who would you say is the crew to beat … the Kiwis, the South Africans or yourselves?
DG: I couldn’t put one ahead of the others really. What we can say is that the form of last year’s world championships appears to have carried through to this year. The New Zealanders and South Africans are still there. And us, we are the new guys who are looking to see if we can get in there and perhaps beat them.
RG: You get asked a lot about comparing this pair with Duncan to when you raced with James Tomkins. But how are you two tackling the challenge? Is there are difference or is it just a new chapter for you both?
DG: It is a new chapter. It is a great and new opportunity for both of us. We do look back on when I was with James, but not to compare … just to draw on that experience and see how it can be used for us as a pair. It was funny though. Today a guy from the US team came up to us and said, ‘It looks like you guys are continuing the long standing tradition (of Australia) having a good pair.’ But we are writing our own, new book really.
RG: What areas do you think you can improve on then for the semi-final and the final?
DG: Probably with how we can get a faster start. You are looking for ways to be faster earlier in the race. Every crew is trying to find a way to get those few extra metres early. But also we would like to know that we will have it to race fast for that last 600 or 500 metres. We haven’t had a race yet where we have had to be tested there. We are keen to find out. Although I am sure we will be ready.
Duncan Free
Rupert Guinness: What did you think about the fast-starting Chinese?
Duncan Free: As Drew said, we expected that from them after what they did at Poland (World Cup). But they went hard and fast early and that helped us to get out there fighting early. They kept us honest early. They are one of the quickest starting crews.
RG: You have raced together at the World Cup, but now for the first time in a World Championship. While it was a heat, how did it feel for you?
DF: To be honest, it reminded me a lot more like single sculling really. It feels good to be back in a small boat. In the quad scull it is different. In the pair you have more control over everything you do. There are less guys and you determine your destiny. And that is what we did today (in the heat). We got out there, raced and controlled it.
RG: Drew says an area for improvement is the start and to be ready for a fast finish. Is that what you think?
DF: We need to improve our middle distance race as well. I think the middle part is just as important as the start and finish. We haven’t had a chance to really test it in a race scenario. We will need to really fire it up in the middle of the race when we do. But I do feel we can do it, put in practice the perfect race from the first stroke to the last.
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Day II: Monday 21 August
A quick chat with Marty Rabjohns
The Australian men’s eight clocked the fastest time of three heats today to cement their favouritism in the race for medals in the world championship blue ribbon event. The man in the driving seat is coxswain Marty Rabjohns. He spoke with Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph at the end of an extraordinary day for the Australian Team that won seven from eight races. Fittingly, says Rabjohns, it was success that came the day after the death of Australian rowing legend Merv Wood on Saturday night was made known.
Rupert Guinness: I heard you saying that it was nice to get the first race out of the way. Can you explain how it all unfolded for you and the crew?
Marty Rabjohns: We had a good camp at Varese for 10 days before we came here. We got here last Tuesday. And like you said, it is good to get that one out of the way. They were pretty tough conditions out there. It is pretty easy for your lesser ranked crews to do well in the tail breeze. It narrows the margin down so some of the crews that we didn’t really expect to be there early on were right into it. So we had to stick to our guns and stay pretty tight. And we did that really well. The response was good out there.
RG: Has there been a certain amount of pressure you guys have had to take on board as a result of your win and fast time at the World Cup in Poznan, Poland in June?
MR: Pressure is something that we would probably put on ourselves. We have a good bunch of guys this year who are really keen to do well. I think the pressure today was just to row well. Look, we always want to back up what we did in Poland but it is a new campaign now and that is what we are looking forward to.
RG: You came through at about 750m to 800m to take the lead from the French. Was that the plan? Or did you want to have a quicker start?
MR: The plan today was to try and work quite hard in those first two minutes but not overdo it so we had something to build in to. And we did that quite well. You always expect a couple of bolters out there. It is just (about) getting the guys to stay in tight and just keep listening to what I am saying. And if I am on the ball things are good (smiling).
RG: The tail conditions seemed to increase for your heat compared to the first one where the US won …
MR: It is hard to say because we are fairly well locked away down at the start. So I am not sure. The only thing I can say is that it was really bouncy in the last 700m in particular. So for us it was important to work early and set up a good rhythm and go from there.
RG: You have the semi-final on Friday. What area do you guys have to work on now for that? You can’t afford any mistakes in that race.
MR: It just tightens up a little bit from here. For us it won’t be too much different. We just have to keep working on everyone doing their job. Individually the guys are good enough to do that job. If we can do that to the best of our abilities we are going to be competitive.
RG: Are you happy that now you will have three races in the eight with heats, semi-finals and then the final; whereas in the past, when the field was smaller, there were only heats and finals?
MR: It’s great. I am really happy because we get down the track more often. We spend a huge amount of time training for sometimes only 10 and a half minutes when you put together the two races. It is good to have semi-finals. It is good to see there has been some development in the men’s eight.
RG: From a team perspective, we saw seven wins from eight races and all crews qualify to their next round. As an eight in the last event, does that vibe effect you at all, even though you do focus on preparing for your race?
MR: Absolutely. We are a pretty tight team. It was great that Cameron Wurf and Tim Smith, who were the first event of the day in the ‘lighty’ pair, got us off to a flyer (by winning). We just built on it from there. It was really good. There is a good feel in the team. We have also spoken about today being the first day (for the eight), so …
RG: I guess you heard about Merv Wood passing away on Saturday night. Did you know Merv very well?
MR: I didn't know him well myself. But we have spoken about it and it is good to see so many Australian crews do so well today. It is a tribute to Merv Wood. He was a real hero in terms of rowing for us. It is great that we could do that today.
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Day III: Tuesday 22 August
A quick chat with Kate Hornsey and Jo Lutz
The Australian Women’s Eight is once again in the thick of the World Championships medal hunt. For Kate Hornsey and Jo Lutz and their crewmates, this weekend’s finals present a terrific chance to bag the big double — gold in the coxed eight and coxless four. They spoke with Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph today shortly after a training row in the four at the Eton course before racing began — the day after they and the rest of the eight stormed into that final with their heat win.
Rupert Guinness: Kate, you’ve made the final of the coxless four and coxed eight. Tell us how you felt about those races now the heats are behind you.
Kate Hornsey: We were pretty nervous (before the eight). But I was pretty nervous before the four as well because it was the first race. And with the eight it was because it was a new crew and a lot of entries. After our result at Poznan (4th) we were going a little bit in the unknown. But after we got the four out of the way, it pretty much settled the nerves.
RG: You said last week that the eight had improved after Poznan, though. But was the performance and win yesterday in the heat better than what you had expected?
KH: It was how we expected. It went how we wanted to go. We changed our start and yesterday we came out much faster. It was something we have been working on a lot in the last month or so because we got out quite slowly in Poznan. We got out well here and that set us up really well for the race. It wasn’t a surprise because we had been working on (the start), but it was nice that it actually happened. We executed it as we wanted.
RG: The conditions in your eights heat yesterday were strong tail. How did you feel about them?
KH: It got pretty blowy as the day went on. So you couldn’t really compare results between heats. Like in our race it blew you as it went on. The next race is only six minutes later, but you don’t know how or if the conditions change. It was pretty bad though, but really fast … really, really fast conditions. So, the race was over just like that (Kate clicks her fingers).
RG: Jo, how did you feel about the conditions? Are you a crew that races better in the tail conditions? Or are you a crew for all conditions?
Jo Lutz: Like Kate was saying, a lot of it is that we are a new crew. But it is a bit nervy. It is a bit of the unknown because we don’t know exactly what our favourite conditions are.
But I guess that is a good thing because it has meant we have had to prepare for everything. Maybe when we first went overseas, tail conditions would not have suited us because we didn’t quite have the hands moving together and we had some new people in the boat. With a new combination it is always hard to get moving wit the speed of the tail. So that was really pleasing, that we handled it yesterday. I think we could probably handle whatever comes now. If its headwind, we have some strong girls for a headwind as well.
RG: You are both in a position to win two golds on the weekend. Is that something you don’t like to talk about before?
JL: I don’t mind (laughing). No, definitely. That is the plan. So get the four out of the way (on Saturday). We will kind of use that as a practice for the eight as well because the four is half the eight. It’s a good (opportunity to) practice executing some things in that race that we want to execute in the eight as well.
RG: They say that in the year after an Olympics the competition is easier, but that it rises each year following as the next Games draw near. Do you already notice the difference here compared to Gifu, Japan last year even though you have only raced in heats?
JL: Definitely. There are a lot more crews as well. It helps that it is Europe, whereas last year it was in Japan — so, a lot of the European countries didn’t send a maximum number of people. But being here in Europe, and Great Britain loving rowing as they do, we knew it would be a big regatta with maximum entries. So the standard is definitely higher. And I am sure that is how it will keep going until 2008 and the Beijing Olympics.
RG: Which is the crew to beat in the eight — apart from yourselves?
JL: The US, I think. But I wouldn’t discount the Germans, or the Romanians. It was a good start (for Australia), but it was a heat. And I am sure everyone is aware that the standard will go up a big step in the final. So we will have to be ready for that.
RG: By winning your four and eight heats you go straight into the final, thus having a break in racing for the week. Some say that is a good thing, others say it is bad …
JL: Yeah … it’s a lot less racing than what we have done in the past. When we were in Poznan we had three races in a day once. It is nice. I like it physically because I am suited to a bit more rest but we are going to possibly treat the four as our semi for the eight. It is a final, but it is not our main focus. That way we can really peak on the Sunday (in the eight).
RG: A lot of people have been talking about the Chinese here, how they have a lot of crews that are fast developing with a focus on Beijing in 2008. Have they surprised you?
JL: Not surprised, because I noticed them already starting to field some crews back in 2001 and 2002. It just looked as though they were really professional and on their game, but just needed a bit of time to figure it out. That seems to be what has happened.
KH: And, they have put a lot of money into their program, too; lots and lots of money because they are really aiming for Beijing. They really want to do well there.
RG: Yesterday was a sensational day for Australian rowing with seven wins from eight races, and all eight crews qualifying for the next round. Did you feel the momentum of that building during the day, or were you focused just within yourselves?
KH: A bit of both. I guess we were aware that they were doing well. And it certainly gave us a bit of confidence cheering on the Australian crews and for them to win and get through to the semis. It was kind of like: ‘yeah, they can do it, so let’s go and have a real go.’ But then at the same time we had to stay focused on what we were doing and not get too caught up in their wins.
RG: I suppose that positive, collective mood among the team was something you could tap into after the racing was done?
JL: Certainly. After the race we asked: ‘how did the quad go?’. Then we got to watch the men’s eight. It was very exciting. I have never had that experience before, actually. To have done well myself but then to be able to be happy with so many other people is huge. But then we have to try and make sure we can repeat it — and when it really counts.
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Day IV: Wednesday 23 August
A quick chat with Amber Halliday
The Australian women’s lightweight double scull of Amber Halliday and Marguerite Houston will line-up for their semi-final on Friday thanks to their heat win on Tuesday. But as Halliday was quick to tell Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph today, winning in the knock-out and then, hopefully, the medal races is a lot harder.
Rupert Guinness: You won your heat, but what can you take from that race to improve on in the semi-final on Friday?
Amber Halliday: That’s a difficult question. We were one of the slowest heats. Being a heat winner bodes well, but having been a slower heat winner sort of gives you a kick up the bum as well. To put it another way, it keeps you grounded and semi- final racing is just so tough – especially in the field this year – that we will have to make a major step up to the semis.
RG: You were saying the other day that the way the heats went reminded you of the Olympics in Athens.
AH: That’s right. It was a very similar situation this time as in the Olympics when we were up against Canada in the heat and (with) Canada having won the Lucerne World Cup of that year, and with it being a rough tail (conditions) as well and us, or me, being part of a largely untested crew. It was all very similar this time round and I think the rough water we tend to do a lot better in. So I am praying for a rough tail from now on.
RG: There is talk of Friday’s weather being unsettled to say the least – horrendous at worse!
AH: There is a lot of talk always in rowing about unfair wind. But hopefully it will be fair, however rough, tail or head it is. But ultimately we are an outdoor sport and these things happen.
RG: With your experience, have you learned to keep the stress of wondering about forecasts out of your head, realising you’ve got to race the conditions that come up?
AH: I won’t lie to you. I definitely have my preference with the weather. I have preferred conditions as I think everyone does. But you’ve got to expect the worst and hope for the best.
RG: Away from the weather then, how is Marguerite Houston settling into to her second year in the smaller boat that a double scull is?
AH: Marguerite is a very experienced oarswoman, but she had to row the quad in the last Olympic cycle where I was always in the double. But I actually feel like I am the one playing catch up because I had the year off in 2005. I think it’s been a learning experience for both of us, (me) getting back into the boat and her adapting to the smaller boat.
RG: How hard is it to come back and get back into the routine and demands of it all after a break like the one you have had in 2005?
AH: It is more about a change in lifestyle, for me. The last four years I was a university student. I was younger. I was living at home. And largely I didn’t know about the universe outside the parallel universe of elite sport. But I have had a year off to discover that other life, to move out, get a job and be independent and also just getting on in age. I think it is harder in that way because I now know what a big wide world it is. I don’t quite have the blinkers that I used to. Maybe being an elite athlete is about learning to be selfish again! That’s the hardest part.
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Day V: Thursday 24 August
A quick chat with Liz Kell and Brooke Pratley
They arrived at Eton, England for the World Championships as unknowns in the arena of double sculling. Now, Liz Kell and Brooke Pratley are making plenty of rivals worried, including the Olympic champions from New Zealand, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell who have made the double scull event their own since 2002. Today, Kell and Pratley daringly took on the Kiwis in their semi-final. After placing second behind them to make Saturday’s final, Kell and Pratley spoke with Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph about their rise to being medal contenders.
Rupert Guinness: It may not have been pretty but it was an effective row. You certainly weren’t afraid to take it to the Evers-Swindell sisters.
Liz Kell: You can’t be I guess. In world rowing, no-one can be on top forever. You have to chose whether you are going to be the crew to end that rein.
Brooke Pratley: We were rating about 30 in the third 500m. I think we were under rating seriously. It was a big improvement (on the heat) but we have a lot to work on in the next 48 hours.
RG: I guess you know that you have got that rating?
BP: (pause, smiling) … Yes! (laughing)
LK: We are headwind specialists!
BP: We haven’t really had a chance to open up and see what speed this boat potentially has. The morning, over the first kilometre we were with the Kiwis all the way, so I guess that is a good thing. But as Liz said we are specialists in headwind. In tailwind we are not bad, but we just have to work out what we can do in those conditions.
RG: Does that mean from here you will go away and work on a strategy? Or can you make it too complicated by trying to strategise so much?
BP: Our coach (Adrian David) is pretty good at keeping it pretty simply for us. But there are a few points we need to put together …
LK: But in a nutshell rowing is a very simple sport. If you do complicate it out there you can get everything mixed up. You do this 335 days of the year. You can’t decide you are going to do this differently on race morning than what you do when you are training. It can end up a disaster.
RG: There were a lot of crews that had some pretty scrappy rows in these conditions today. It must also be a matter of keeping your head and not panicking when you do have a bad stroke.
BP: We had a few boat stoppers. It is just a matter of keeping it as cool as you can …
LK: It is. And that is interesting because in these conditions it is usually the most experienced crews that keep their cool … and we are not that experienced but we definitely keep our cool. We are very long rowers. Brooke did a great job keeping the length.
RG: What about for you both? The journey to the final has been an interesting one considering the heat was your first race together. At the Lucerne World Cup in July an illness for Liz meant you couldn’t have your first race there didn’t it?
BP: Yeah …They found a single for me on the Thursday before the race. And I hadn’t been in a single for months. It was a bit stressful … (for) my first international regatta.
RG: It is not as if Lucerne is a small regatta ...
LK: No ... they say Lucerne is where God rows because of the perfect conditions there!
RG: So when you came here to Eton, what did you expect from yourselves in the heat?
BP: The heat was a really good hit-out for us. We had nothing to lose because even if we went through to the rep it would have been really good to have another race. We were both quite calm in the heat.
LK: For me the most important thing is to have confidence. And that is definitely there now. And that race just then (the semi-final), even though it was pretty ugly, the speed was definitely there. I mean everyone was pretty ugly out there — rowing. But we still have a lot to work on which is good because that will make the boat go faster.
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Day VI: Friday 25 August
A quick chat with Sam Conrad and James Chapman
The Australian men’s eight is on the cusp of winning its first World Championship in 20 years after taking first place in today’s semi-final at Eton. But their winning row into a headwind was far from error-free, as four-seat Sam Conrad and bowman James Chapman were quick to tell Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph. But that’s not such a bad thing, so long as the lessons are learned, they say.
Rupert Guinness: Congratulations. A win and you are into the final. How was the race for you?
Sam Conrad: It was a solid hit out. Probably not our best race. It was probably the first race we have had into a headwind this year. So it was a bit of a different story for us in the middle. We can work through the middle a bit stronger next time … hopefully.
RG: You have proven yourselves as good in tailwind conditions. Did the headwind create any uncertainly among you before the start of today’s semi-final?
James Chapman: It is a bit hard to tell with times. Conditions can change down the course. I don’t look too much at times of the others between now and the final. We now just have to focus on the process in our boat and do the best race we can.
RG: How did you feel then with all the expectation that has been put in you now? Do you feel it?
JC: The main pressure on us is what is put on us by ourselves. We have trained well. And we have prepared well and all of us felt good for today’s semi-final. We want to do the best race we can. We know if we row well, we row the best we can, we will go fast. And the others … it will make a good race for us.
RG: The Americans are the defending champions and won their semi. Do you see them as the crew to beat, or are you guys?
SC: It is a bit of an unknown. They won the other semi. I am sure the Americans are going to be very tough and that it is going to be extremely tight. I think anyone out there, if they pull out a good row, can be up there for the medals. This is about putting the best foot forward when it counts.
RG: What sort of message did coach Brian Richardson have for you before today’s semi-final?
SC: Basically, he just said that: ‘You are ready. You know what to do. Just go out and do it. You had prepared very well for it. We did exactly what we needed to do. If you row the way you’ve trained then you’ll get through.’ We like to really row the middle (well), to control it after the first 500m. I think we have done that in the last couple of races, in the semi and heat. It was probably something where we let ourselves down a little in the semi-final. We then look to try and build on from there.
RG: A lot of people say the pressure of a semi-final can be more than a final. With benefit of hindsight, is it good that you have had your lesser row now?
JC: I don’t know if it was a bad row, just that there are areas you can improve on. And that’s a really positive thing. And it’s exciting to know we can improve on that semi-final row. It’s always good to get the semi-final over. For a lot of crews it is their final. Their goal and objective for the whole regatta is to make the final and after that it is throw them up and see where the chips land. It is really good to get the heat and semi over and done with because there is a lot of waiting around all week between the heat and semi. It’s good to just focus and prepare on the final.
RG: You are in a World Championships final, but how much does Beijing and the 2008 Olympics figure in all this?
JC: Beijing is the ultimate goal for everyone here. The World Championships are a very important stepping stone and part of our preparation over a four-year period. But here we are focusing on getting the rowing right, each stroke, each race. And once we have finished up here this week we go back to preparing for next year and qualifying for the Olympics in 2007.
RG: There is also a little bit of history on offer to write at these championships. It is 20 years since Australia has won the men’s eight title – and the last time was in England too (Nottingham, 1986).
JC: History is a nice thing to look back on. It can be used for reflection but I really don’t think that is going to be at the front of our minds. I think we are going to be focused on getting each stroke right and the process and making sure we row the best race we can. Hopefully the result will look after itself and we can write our own history.
RG: You have both got world championship experience to help you. How much of a role does that play?
JC: Rowing is one of those sports where you can learn from every race. With guys like Drew Ginn and Duncan Free and the others in the seniors club, with their experience they are still at the top of their game. It goes to show that the more experience you get, if you use it to your advantage you can stay in rowing quite a long time and be successful. I have learned a lot from my previous world championships. Hopefully I can keep using that and contributing to this crew and do what I can to make this crew get the best result it can.
SC: It (experience) is not a must. The stroke seat (Jeremy Stevenson) is 19 and he is in probably one of the key seats in the crew. He is the youngest and most inexperienced, but I think he probably feeds off the experience of the people around him. Even the coxswain (Marty Rabjohns), this is his first world championship. It is not a must but it is an advantage to be able to feed off the experience of others as well.
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Day VII: Saturday 26 August
The Australian Rowing Team won three gold medals out of the three finals they had qualified for today at the World Championships in Eton, England. Those gold medals came to us in the men’s coxless pair and women’s double scull and coxless four.
It was a truly amazing feat and the perfect morale boost going into the final day of action where Australia has seven crews racing for medals — many for the gold. After witnessing their wins today, Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph caught up with two gold medallists at the Eton sheds — Duncan Free who won the coxless pairs with Drew Ginn, as well as Liz Kell who raced with Brooke Pratley to win double sculls.
Duncan Free
Rupert Guinness: Did the race all go as expected
Duncan Free: Yeah … we changed our race plan a little bit because we haven’t raced a lot of races as a combination. So we did change a little bit for the final. It did go to plan. We had a really good start and middle thousand. It was a little lumpy in the last 500m, so we made sure we didn’t make any mistakes and did what it takes to get over the line first.
RG: Before the final did you feel any pressure as being favourites? Or was it for the Kiwis to feel?
DF: We both did. They had to feel it from being the current world champions. There was a bit of pressure with us too. With Drew’s background as the Olympic gold medallist and when you win the other semi it puts you up there in contention. Hey, we don’t mind pressure. It makes you go well.
RG: What future do you see for the pair now? There is going to be a lot of interest in it as Beijing nears
DF: We are going to take it a year at a time and see how things turn out. We don’t want to limit ourselves to one boat category. We want to be in the boat that is going to give us the best chance of the best result in Beijing (Olympics in 2008). So whatever boat that is, if it is a pair, great. If not we just want to be in the boat that gets the best result.
RG: James Tomkins has spoken of his return and that he would like to race in the four with you and Drew and, I believe, Bo Hansen …
DF: As I’ve said, we are not going to close any doors. We will give anything a go, particularly in Australia during selection and all that. We will try anything. Pair, four, eight … whatever. Double (scull) ... no, no (laughing). We will try anything just to keep our options open because the pair may not be the best option for us. We just don’t know. At the same time it would be an honour to row with someone like James anyway.
RG: Coming into the sweep program from sculling like you have, do you feel more confident about trying new things, now that you have won the gold medal?
DF: I do. It’s funny. I have been doing this for less than a year now. It felt like early on everyone was kind of watching and interested to see how we would go, including me. It is a bit of a confidence boost. Right now I am still not 100 per cent comfortable in sweep, so it does help knowing things are only going to get better and a bit more comfortable.
RG: Do you feel now that the pair has clocked, or do you still have a ways to go?
DF: Oh no, we still have a way to go. Like that last 500m we still would have liked to have three seconds quicker. But because it was a newer combination and the conditions were getting a little bit lumpy — not real bad — but any little mistake could be the downfall. If you were a bit more established combination you could have sprinted just like the New Zealanders did and potentially moved away from the field a bit more.
RG: Three out of three wins in finals today for Australia. Did you see the winning women’s double scull of Liz Kell and Brooke Pratley race just after you?
DF: We were just about to walk up to get our medal. They did really well. They beat the world champions as well. Those girls must be really proud because … they have not come from nowhere, but they have done really, really well to get that gold medal. They showed a lot of promise for the years to come. I could see it on the big screen as well and saw that they were a couple of seats in front with 500m to go. We were screaming for them and they pretty much held that margin to the line. Everyone should be proud of them, they did great.
Liz Kell
Rupert Guinness: How was it in those last strokes? Did you call for an effort or did it all come instinctively?
Liz Kell: I think I said: ‘Go’ but I always do say: ‘Go’. But we have never had to just go for it because it has always been ‘just get through to the next round.’
RG: One of the great things about this week has been that you haven’t been afraid to go for it and back yourself — on or off the water? You did say every rein comes to an end …
LK: It’s a non-contact sport. There’s no reason to be afraid. You are not afraid of anyone. You go out there and do what you can do. Everyone has got some pretty strong people. Everyone is strong. Everyone is rowing well. It is really the stuff in the head that gets you through to the line.
RG: How did you feel about the pressure of the world title final?
LK: I am not a big nervous person on the water. It is worth knowing that there is a prize at the end if you go well. But you have to keep your head in the boat and not let it float around.
RG: What about during the race? Did you feel those other crews coming back or were you just focused on the Kiwis?
LK: Brooke keeps her head in the boat and I do look in semis. And I did look to see where we were. But saying that, I don’t look and study it and say: “mmm … we are ahead by half a canvas and all that.”
RG: You went out quick today and were with the Kiwis in second place at the 250m …
LK: The Kiwis are known as fast starters. It’s been a bonus that we have been able to keep up with them at the start.
RG: Did you speak to them after?
LK: Just (saying) congratulations. They are great girls. I have always really looked up to them. They are pretty amazing. They have always been quite quiet, but respectable.
RG: They certainly helped establish a huge reputation for this boat by making it their own since 2002. To be the ones to take over from them is added value to the gold medal.
LK: You can’t be overwhelmed by people when you are out there. Okay they were the reigning world champions, but at the start line you all have a chance to win. They may be the champions, but they still have to get over that line first.
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Day VIII: Sunday 27 August
A quick chat with Noel Donaldson
So Australia ends the World Championships with seven medals, second on the overall medal table behind Great Britain with eight medals. But five of Australia’s medals are in Olympic-class boats. It the best performance in the all-important domain of competition, followed by China who, with Australia, were the only countries to win two gold medals in Olympic boats at the worlds in Eton, England. And despite the gold rush of Saturday failing to continue as hoped, Rowing Australia High Performance Director Noel Donaldson was quick to remind Rupert Guinness of The Daily Telegraph that all is looking good for the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games.
Rupert Guinness: Could you give us your thoughts on the day?
Noel Donaldson: "Today compared to yesterday was obviously a little disappointing. The fourth place gettings, you’re always hoping that they may have been medals. The reality is that we've just got to accept all of that. We've done a good job to make sure we set ourselves up pretty well but were unable to finish it off so we’ve just got to look at the reasons why we're not on the podium in a couple of events.”
RG: What do you think those reasons might be?
ND: "We got out-raced, that's a start. We didn't have the day in some of the boats, obviously not in every boat. We had some great results today too, but in some of them we just didn't quite hit it on the right number and we just have to look at the reasons why. Whether it's inexperience or whether we need to do some more mental preparation work to make sure they can row at that level.”
RG: The women are consistently medaling in World Championships while the men are still falling a bit short …
ND: "We're closer to it than what we were in the last Olympic cycle when we ended up the top nation in the world. So let's not panic sort of a scenario. There's room to move in a lot of those boats. We've got to be realistic, but realise the men are not a long way from it as well. There was a bit of rivalry in the last four years about who would do better. Now we're one team, it's the team's results that are important and we've just got to make sure that the guys gradually come through.”
RG: Is the depth the same in both men's and women's? Not trying to take away from the value of the medals for the women …
ND: “You never take away the value of the medals from anyone, in any event, including the adaptives. But the reality is there's more depth in the men's events and the races statistically are closer so the guys have to be right on the money. There's no leeway, and the girls perhaps can not be quite so good one day but they might sneak a bronze whereas the guys if they do the same thing on the same day will end up fourth or fifth.”
RG: What about the men's eight, what happened there after so much expectation?
ND: “For some reason it didn't get going. If you actually look at the splits, I've got the 250m splits as well ... we've just rowed the same pace for about 1250, 1500 metres of the race. It wasn't that it was up or down really, they just rowed the race at a slower tempo than their opponents. We have to go away and look at why we rowed the race at a slower tempo, what got us into the gear that we were in and couldn't get out of it. It was just in the wrong gear and just stayed there. It wasn't as if we flew out in front and then got passed, we just never found the right speed.”
RG: Looking to Beijing and the 2008 Olympics, is it going to be a case of the older, more experienced ones like Drew Ginn and Duncan Free who will be carrying Australia's hopes? Or do you think you've got plenty of young ones coming through to add depth?
ND: "Both. That's the attitude we took in the last Olympic cycle. We had to add our more experienced athletes though, who genuinely can get a result no matter what. And we have to if we want more than just their results. We've got to make sure we develop the talent of the younger athletes. I would say that third in the women's quad, third in the women's eight, fourth in the men's eight, fourth in the lightweight doubles … so there's plenty of guys and girls that are banging on the door but the experienced ones … the one's mentioned before, and the younger ones. So it's not a bad position to be in. That doesn't mean we'll just front up and it's all going to happen, but we're not coming from a long way back.”
RG: Was there one stand out performance? Was it Liz Kell and Brooke Pratley?
ND: “That was the standout. They've beaten the Olympic champions ... great race, close racing, that's the highlight. One girl (Pratley) in her first international season, that's clearly a standout in the team. Drew and Duncan, you expect good things of those guys.”
RG: What are your thoughts on where we stand on the medal tally?
ND: "It's solid, it's good. We have enough pride to always want to be in the top few in the world. Our goal in Beijing is clear, part of our business plan is to be the number one ranked nation in the world. So it's solid. There it is, second place on the gold medal and third overall in the total. So top three nations in the world … and we're disappointed with some of the (results). It's good that we're setting high standards.
RG: What's next for those in the squad?
ND: “They'll get one month off. The smart ones will be training next week, ticking their systems over, and then in about a month's time they get back into it again so no rest for the wicked, so to speak.”
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