Olympic Regatta | Rowperfect

Frances Houghton wraps up her Olympic Experiences

August 22, 2008 by Rebecca Caroe

Fran is writing on the BBC Blogs page and summarises how she feels as time passes about the Silver Medal she won with the W4x.

^{Gradually putting silver in perspective}

^{The dust has been settling over the past few days and although I don't think our disappointment at not winning the gold will ever go away, I am beginning to put things into more perspective day by day.}

^{We actually had a great race and I honestly don't know what we could have done to go faster.}

^{If I had my day again I wouldn't change what we did; physically and tactically we put together the best race we ever have; we went as fast as we possibly could on the day. And as an athlete this is the most I have ever asked of myself.}
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Filed Under: Olympics Tagged With: Frances Houghton, GB Rowing, Olympic Regatta, rowing bloggers

Drew Ginn reflects on injury

August 11, 2008 by Rebecca Caroe

Drew Ginn has put up his latest news on his blog site.

Relief & Excitement

Have to honest there have been a few anxious moments over the last few days. It would seem that my poor old back decided it would give me some grief. Boy don't you think I had a few flashes of 2000 all over again, but deep down I felt that that experience has taught me to read the signals better and to take action. Our coach Chris O'Brien was great swinging into gear to ensure everything was organised to make sure that it became no worse.

In fact many have been instrumental in assisting with the panel beating process. I am grateful to all involved and hope that as this week goes on I can repay their efforts. At the final hour I got our team physio (Ivan) to strap my back and had our boatman (Urs) to modify my seat. Easier than fixing the fin he said. Once on the water I was happily relieved that I had a reasonable movement and with each stroke from the pontoon start to feel quite positive about the race ahead.

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Filed Under: Olympics Tagged With: Drew Ginn, Olympic Regatta, olympic rowing blogger, Rowperfect

Day 2 Rowing live blog

August 10, 2008 by Rebecca Caroe

Up not so early to watch the rowing heats onn Day 2 of the Olympic Regatta in Beijing.

BBC Webstream link

The Draw and Results

Light tail wind and less hot than yesterday but 80% humidity.

Womens Lightweight 2x. Progression: First and Second to Semi Final and rest to Repecharge. Heat 1 a nice confident win for the Netherlands by a length with Australia second in a dog fight over USA by 0.1 seconds. Jen Goldsack in the USA crew used to row for GB. Heat 2 Canada lead for first 1500 and Germany do a great sprint through to win, Canada second and GB (Hester Goodsell and Helen Casey) third and so through to the repecharge. Heat 3 Chinese lead out of the blocks but Denmark chase hard to come in second.

Mens Lightweight 2x. Progression: First and Second to Semi Final and rest to Repecharge. Heat 1 Great Britain leading out ahead of Greece. Fast race 6.13 (World record 6.10). Heat 2 Australia the early leaders but Italy take two lengths through the middle part of the race and in the sprint for the line the Australians miss out to China, second. 6.16. Heat 3 includes the Danes, Rasmussen and Hansen, who I fancy to win this event. Canada lead out but Denmark have a lethal push to take them by half a length at 1500. Fantastic rhythm. 6.14. Heat 4. New Zealand lead off the start and all the way to win by 2 lengths.

Mens Lightweight 4-. Progression: First three crews to Semi Final and rest to Repecharge. Heat 1. What a line-up Australia, GB, Netherlands, China, Egypt. Richard Chambers in the bow seat. Chinese lead out rating high. Great Britain chase them to a length down but by 1500 Chinese lead is just under a length. Australians push back to overlap on the British in last 200. Chinese win by half a length from GB and Australia third. 5.51 Heat 2. Denmark show their quality by quietly taking the lead and inching out to clear water over Canada and Italy. Denmark win by 3/4 length over Canada with Italy third. 5.50. Heat 3. Jochen Kuehner in 3 seat of the German boat. France lead off the start but by 500m the German crew have pushed to a quarter length lead. Nearly a length at 1500 and a time faster than China in heat 1. Germany win, Poland slip past France to second place with the Irish fourth. 5.50

Womens 4x. Progression: First to final and rest to Repecharge. Heat 1. Chinese dominate the race (crowds going wild!) Three lengths of clear water over Ukraine. 6.11 [one second slower than the world record!]. Hard to believe this is a heat. Heat 2. Germany, Britain, Australia, USA. Great Britain lead by 500 with Germany close behind. Halfway time 2 seconds slower than China. 1500 3/4 length still 2 seconds slower than China. Great Britain win by 2/3 length 6.13. Seems most of the gain was in the second 500.

Mens 4x. Progression: First three crews to Semi Final and rest to Repecharge. Heat 1 Russians lead out but by half way the Italians take over the lead. Pushing for the line a little early and Australia sneaks through by a foot to win. 5.36 Heat 2 Poland and France the early leaders. Poles have over a length by half way. Poland win by 1 length. France and Belarus second and third. 5.38 Heat 3 At half way Germany have a slight lead over Ukraine second and USA third. Ukraine take the lead by 1500 about 2 seconds slower than the Poles in the previous heat. Ukraine win, Germany second and USA third. 5.40

Womens 8. Progression: First to final and rest to Repecharge.

Filed Under: Olympics Tagged With: , , Beijing Olympics, Great Britain Rowing, Jochen Kuehnerm, liveblog rowing, Olympic Regatta, Richard Chambers, Rowperfect liveblog

Drew Ginn blog update from Friday

August 9, 2008 by Rebecca Caroe

Drew put up two blog posts on Friday. Here is the link to Drew Ginn's Blog

The games are about to begin

The day has arrived and soon these games will begin. Say what you like I think this will be an unforgettable event. Last night we had the team function and you can't help but be inspired by the experience of being an Olympian. We heard a few speeches, by John Coates and Kevin Rudd, plus our flag bearer. James Tomkins had the honor bestowed upon him and it is something that he is very deserving of and proud to be representing the team.

What I love was also seeing the video footage of past games and past flag bearers. It reminds you how amazing the history of the games are with the culmination of our countries efforts being seen over so many years. Tonight the opening ceremony will mark the beginning of this event and since we compete tomorrow we won't march, but will enjoy watching it on TV like many back home and around the World.
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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , Drew Ginn, Olympic Regatta, olympic rowing blogger

Richard Chambers is “Counting the hours…”

August 9, 2008 by Rebecca Caroe

Richard Chambers has written another installment from Beijing.

Thanks to the Guardian.co.uk for hosting his blog. Richard's blog link.

I have just looked at the Olympics countdown clock on my computer and it is no longer counting the days. I've had the clock on my screen for the last 200 days and to see it so static and still is making me sweat. The last time I wrote, just before leaving the UK, was little over a week ago but it seems like an age. Since then we have travelled to China on business class (well somebody has to do it!) and begun the process of acclimatisation and tapering.

Upon arriving in China we were warmly greeted by friendly faces and humid weather. The Chinese are amazing, they will do anything for us and are willing to help in any way possible. It's been great so far. We've even had evening drinks with the British ambassador – although when I say drinks I mean apple juice and plenty of water – and we're ready for our first race tomorrow.

The British rowers are not staying in the Olympic village for the first week of competition. Our well-organised management staff have got us accommodation next to the Shunyi rowing course , which will be a significant competitive edge. But we have visited the Olympic village, which was something else. There is more security than Fort Knox but once you are inside it is phenomenal.
To be honest I didn't know what to expect, but the Chinese have really spared no expense. There are games rooms, TV rooms, gyms, swimming pools and so much more. But what I really want to talk about is the food hall. Wow. It sits 6,000 and has so much food there that not even our heavyweight men could polish it all up. With food choices from Asian to Mediterranean I didn't know where to start, so I had a bit of everything. Stuff being a lightweight for an hour!

The Shyuni rowing course is very much like Dorney only a little bigger, and training on the course has been going well. But after being out here for a week now we are itching to get racing: we have done all that we can in our crew to put ourselves in the best possible condition – now it's up to us to perform.

Our draw came out on Thursday and we are going up against some tough opposition but who said it would be a walkover? All of our races from the heat to the final will be gut-busters. To be honest the mood in the four is sometimes tense but that works for us, it means we know that something big is coming up and feeling nerves is a good sign. All the years of training will come into play in the next week or so. We want to make the most of it and I'm sure we will. We are ready to race.

Filed Under: Olympics, Racing Tagged With: Beijing Olympics, Olympic Regatta, Richard Chambers