OLYMPICS/ Team china
Junior rowers are all ears
By Cui Xiaohuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-17 11:51
For rowers, precision is everything. The leverage gained from moving their muscled torsos back and forth and the angle at which their oars strike the water can mean the difference between silver and gold, or no medal at all.
They have to use all of their senses when in the water, especially their sense of hearing.
"You listen to the coach's orders. Sometimes you hear what the other crews are saying and you decide your next move," said Stephen Mann, former Team Australia member. "Normally I just listen to myself breathing."
Mann was talking whiling preparing for last weekend's World Rowing Junior Championships, one of this month's pre-Olympics test events held at the new Shunyi Rowing course in northeast Beijing.
For rowers, the right coach and heavy doses of encouragement are crucial. During competition, coaches often ride alongside the water lane on bicycles so they can time the boats and give signals to their crew. "
My coach keeps shouting at me, 'You're the best'," said 17-year-old Aleksandar Aleksandrov of Romania, who took gold at the men's single sculls on Saturday.
"She also signaled to tell me the distance between other boats and mine, letting me know what to do and what not to do."
Rowers also need to be good communicators, especially if they lack a coxswain, to maintain a single stroke.
A pat on the back among teammates never hurts, either. "
We often communicate on the boat and it really works," said Chinese rower and national team member Xu Rui, who won the gold with Zhang Yangyang in the women's double sculls on August 11. "After completing each 500m, she shouted 'Come on' and I shouted back, 'Okay!'"
Xue Feng from China and 18-year-old Sebastian Peter from Germany, who won gold medals in different events with their teammates in Shunyi, both said they kept shouting and encouraging their teammates to be more aggressive. "
I heard my countrymen cheering me on close to the finish line and it felt awesome," said Xu Rui after last weekend's final. "I want to hear that again next August."
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