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    Blog Contributors
    Brad Alan Lewis
    Brad Alan Lewis won the Gold Medal in the Men's Double at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, along with partner Paul Enquist.
    Ed Hewitt
    Ed Hewitt is the publisher of row2k.com
    Erik Dresser
    Erik Dresser is row2k's Assistant Editor and occasional photographer.
    Heather Mandoli
    Heather Mandoli is a member of the Canadian W8+ in Beijing.
    Xeno Muller
    Xeno Muller is the '96 Olympic Gold and '00 Silver Medallist in the Men's Single.
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    Olympic Mountains
    posted by: Ed Hewitt (August 14, 2008)
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    Mountains plus smokestack beyond finish line

    What a difference a day makes; we went from days of headwinds and haze to a direct tail coming down off the very clearly visible mountains beyond the starting line. The photographers went from waiting to a burst of lightning to photograph to setting up photos with the Rings and the mountains, and I've heard from folks who came out to Shunyi yesterday and left in disgust, and the nice weather has eliminated all memories of getting soaked and disappointed yesterday, and they're on the way back out to the course. More from the what a difference dept: after being pulled from the quad yesterday due to illness, the rain delay provided just enough time for recovery, and he is back in the boat today. Illness the past couple days has claimed a number of rowers; Santiago Fernandez withdrew yesterday, and looked very uncomfortable the day before when I followed his race in the launch; the German light men's four has had to withdraw from the racing, and one of the semis today will have only four boats; and after subbing for two men a couple days ago in the German men's four, those two guys are back, but another guy is now out. In the photos, you can also see for the first time some of the factories that had to be closed for the rowing events; the smokestacks appear to be just a few hundred meters above the starting line. Despite all the coverage of the pollution in Beijing, it would seem somewhat less controversial or surprising that these smokestacks would have to be shut down; if you held the Olympics in the nation with the cleanest air on Earth, but had a smokestack that close to the line, you would need to shut it down. The weed problem seems serious but usually under control, but there have been a couple instances where it mahy have or very nearly affected the racing. Two I know of: in the men's single semis, Olaf Tufte pulled into the line shortly before the two minute cutoff, and asked that his fin be checked. The official boomed "TOO LATE," but it turned out that the swimmer was already in the water, and the official complained somewhat mightily; the fin was checked nonetheless, and the race went off. However, unless the scullers were told ahead of time that they need to be at the line early in order to have their fins checked, which was not clearly the case based on the conversations with officials I had, it would seem to me that if you arrive at the line on time - i.e., before the two-minute cutoff - you should enjoy all the benefits of the starting line procedures that all the other competitors enjoy, including having your fin checked. In a semi of the women's single, the Swedish sculler Frida Svensson told the officials that there were weeds in her lane; the starting line officials then tried to get an officials launch to check and clear the lane. There are no radios on the officials launches however, so considerable shouting and gesturing ensued; then apparently the official wanted to go check the lane, but could not transmit this information to the driver of the launch due to a language barrier, and the lane check did not occur. Svensson subsequently placed last in the semi, eight seconds out of qualifying, and protested at the finish line. As i understand it, her fin was checked on the water, no weeds were found, and the protest was disallowed. When she took her boat out of the water, however, there was a strand of weed on the fin. So this one went to the jury in the evening, but ultimately the protest was denied. Uniwatch: the unis of the US W8 are identical to the old-school US uniforms of the 70s and 80s, save for the patch; apparently they couldn't bring the patch together in time to match it up. Check out more photos from this morning here.
    Mountains plus smokestack beyond finish line - Click for full-size image!
    Rings and peaks - Click for full-size image!
    Uniwatch: That 70s Uni - Click for full-size image!
    PIL lyrics gone wrong - Click for full-size image!

    August 14th
    posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 14, 2008)
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    posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 13, 2008)
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    Accidental Buddhism
    posted by: Ed Hewitt (August 13, 2008)
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    Life of an Olympian
    posted by: Heather Mandoli (August 13, 2008)
    So life can be pretty boring during competition. We are staying out by the course in a hotel. Us, the Canadian team, as well as the American, Italian and Greek rowing teams are all out here in the same hotel. Though we don't have much interaction with the other teams, there are simply friendly exchanges in the hallways. We are quite isolated. There aren't any shops or cafes near by, and Shunyi (the closest city) is about a 15-20 min cab ride away. Our team has a conference room that we have turned into a hang out area; we can play cards, and watch some Olympic coverage on tv with Mandarin commentary. I have to say, I've seen less Olympic coverage of this Olympics than I've ever seen in my entire life. Being at the Olympics needs to be the absolute worse place to actually see the Olympics! Typically I watch television for about two weeks every two years, when the Olympics are on. Previous Olympics I have spent hours sitting in front of the television watching everything and anything that is covered. Even table tennis and shooting is suddenly extraordinary entertaining to me as long as it is part of the Olympics. (Sorry to those table tennis enthusiasts). So here I sit going a bit stir crazy, waiting for the next rowing practice, or meal time. Naps and reading fill out the gaps in between. Life sure is glamorous here in Beijing. Be in touch soon!

    Blogging confession
    posted by: Heather Mandoli (August 13, 2008)
    I'm going to take a bunch of steps back to about two weeks ago, when I put up my first blog entry... I have to admit this is my first time blogging. I was honored when I was asked by row2k to give a bit different view on what is happening here in Beijing. As a first time Olympian, Canadian, woman and competing athlete at these games, I may have a bit different view on how things are going here compared to the other fellow bloggers. So let me introduce myself (which I should have done about two weeks ago, sorry :-)) My name is Heather Mandoli and I was born and raised in Kelowna, British Columbia (it is a city of about 150,000 3 hours east of Vancouver). I am 25 years old and attended the University of Michigan from 2000-2004 and the University of Western Ontario from 2004-2006. I started rowing in 1999, after winning a set of rowing lessons from the local rowing club. After a wonderful career at Michigan I decided to test the waters back in my home country and see if I could survive on the Canadian national team. During my first summer I tried out for the U23 team and rowed in the W4-. We won a bronze medal (the first in quite awhile for Canadian women's under 23 rowing). And ever since the summer of 2004 I've been training full time at the London Training Centre, home of the Canadian National Women's Rowing team. In 2005 I rowed in the W4x, and since 2006 I have been in the women's eight. Currently I'm rowing in bow seat of the Canadian women's eight during the Olympics. Sorry for such a delayed hello and introduction to myself. Be in touch soon! Heather

    Drysdale is sick... is the opening ceremony to blame?
    posted by: Xeno Muller (August 13, 2008)
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    flag inside our rowing studio

    As an Olympic athlete you seek to control your workouts, your food intake, your rest, who you spend time with, pretty much everything that can be controlled. Some situations can not be controlled, but can be avoided... such as the opening ceremonies. I have gone to three Olympics and attended none. I enjoyed watching the events on TV. In 1992, not going to the opening ceremonies was upsetting. The coaches gave us several good reasons. First the rowing venue was over 100KM away from Barcelona's Olympic stadium, the commute would take forever. Second, the single scull heat was in the morning the next day. Third, may as well be the most important reason, the need to avoid people and their potential germs. You never know what germs other people carry. At the Olympics not everyone is set to win a medal and therefore are not as worried with their health and hygiene. I watched the Atlanta and Sydney opening ceremonies on TV. In 2000 at the Australia Olympics, I had a strange nightly cold, which did not help my final five hundred meter sprinting ability for the gold medal. It is possible that I would have been worse off, had I gone to the opening ceremony. At one point all athletes ended up standing under a huge tarp, for quite a WHILE. I was told by some of the athletes who had gone that the smell underneath was pretty bad.... Last Friday, I watched the opening ceremonies... I was excited to see Drysdale carry the New Zealand flag into the stadium. It was awesome that a rower had that honor. Drysdale marching in on camera reminded me that the opportunity was presented to me by the Swiss Olympic team in 2000, and I declined. Drysdale, like me, had a race the next morning and must have known that a full nights sleep before his heat was not going to happen. He had no trouble winning his heat. No matter what, you want to conserve energy at all cost for that one week in your life... (I made a mistake in Australia, after my semifinal win, I felt oddly exhausted, but still was convinced by the team manager to give interviews. That was a terrible mistake and to this day I remember it. It took me several hours to get a normal resting heart rate and this may have cost me 0.5% of power and the gold medal...) As for Drysdale, he started throwing up on Sunday night and lost 8 pounds between Monday and yesterday's semi final. Now we know why that semifinal unfolded in such a bizarre way. When he got sick we don't know exactly but staying up from Friday to Saturday may not have been the best choice. I will keep my fingers crossed so that he comes back to full power for his 2k on Saturday. I want every athlete to be able to bring his best, because only like that will everyone be satisfied with the outcome. Here is the link to the NZ PRESS article: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10526996 Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist. www.ironoarsman.com
    flag inside our rowing studio - Click for full-size image!

    Pugilists
    posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 13, 2008)
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    Pugilists at the wall China has more Great Walls than my dog has fleas. The most popular local place is the Mutianyu Great Wall, about an hour outside Beijing.

    The US wrestling team arrived at the Wall about the same time. Looking at these pugilists- as a whole, one big group- you can't help but appreciate our sport. Wrestler ears, wrestler hunched posture, wrestler flattened noses, the team, taken together, were a living incarnation of those Russian nesting dolls - some of these guys were big, some were pretty small in stature - they all looked broken, confused, tough.

    The Wall is situated on the ridge of low mountain range- a good defensive strategy; with guard towers every quarter mile or so. How many granite quarries were emptied to build these things? It must have been a pretty grim business if you were conscripted to build Northern Wall 19A, Sub-section C-0989, parapet 243444-1. You get paid in rice (only what you can eat) with 2 days off a year. Start digging. And now, six hundred years later, a gondola has been added to get you up to the wall, complimented with a toboggan ride to get you down. And nine hundred stalls have been added near the parking lot to aid in the acquisition of stuff. The stalls add some much needed color if nothing else.

    Everyone perspires while walking along the Wall, even the President... Clinton, that is, a photo of him sweating like a big dog from the effort. The semi-finals are often the best racing. The math is simple: finish in the top 3, go to the finals. Finish 4th, 5th, or 6th, put your boat away and go to the nearest bar. (Luckily the beer here is cheap, plentiful and pretty good... it's no Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but that's to be expected.)

    The US single sculler, Michelle Guerette, led her semi from the 500 to the 1500 meter mark; then she geared down and cruised to a second place finish. Two things of interest: when Xiuyun Zhang, from China, passed Michelle with 250 meters to go, the crowd went absolutely crazy. I can't wait for the finals.

    Also of interest, Michelle's technique is utterly unique, unconventional, unorthodox, and it works. Therein lies the beauty of the single scull. Matching up with a teammate is never an issue.

    The single can be pretty unforgiving, too. Olympic bronze medalist from 2000, Marcel Hacker, trains in Newport Beach, California for much of the winter. Hacker has a full-time, top notch professional coach. Hacker is 100% state sponsor supported and he does nothing but train day in, day out; he has the best equipment money can buy, plus a wealth of racing experience at every level. And he finished 4th. In the next semi, the current Olympic champion, Mahe Drysdale, came within about a stroke of finishing 4th to the sculler from Greece. Ken Jurkowski of the US finished 5th, six seconds out of qualifying.

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    After watching the video of the semifinal of the men's single scull
    posted by: Xeno Muller (August 13, 2008)
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    In Australia before the Olympics.

    I just finished watching the first semi of the men's single scull on NBCOLYMPICS.com and what a nail biter that was. I was carefully watching the Belgian single sculler. Hats off to him, he fought off the combined charge of Tufte and Hacker throughout the entire 2000 meters. The Belgian's show of speed today, reenforces my believe that if there is a tailwind for the Olympic final he is a medal contender. As I write this blog, I am simultaneously watching the second semi. Throughout the field of single scullers, I see "effort" in the stroke, which indicates a lack of hanging off the leg drive. Others lack the fluid connection between the last quarter of the leg drive and back swing. Now, we are almost at the five hundred meter mark and I hate to say this, but it looks like the qualifying spots are already determined. The British single sculler seems content with rank 3 and leaves the fight for rank one and two to Drysdale a Synek. I believe that this is a psychological race between Synek and Drysdale. We are coming into the last forty strokes of the race! Oh my gosh, what a bizarre twist in this race. Drysdale, either turned the engine off early to conserver energy for the final or ran out of gas. Drysdale's move is really dangerous because in lane one the Greek sculler is charging the line like a freight train. Campbell is in danger. Campbell spotted the attack and is putting the pedal to the medal. Drysdale is in danger now. He is countering. I have NO idea who is going to make it here. SYNEK, CAMPBELL, DRYSDALE in the final. Synek had a great race, Drysdale blew, Campbell either blew or just did not realize that lane one was torpedoing the finish line. Hats of to the Greek sculler in lane one. He proved that the race isn't over until the finish line is crossed. After watching these two semis I can say that there is a slight advantage for Synek, but everything else is wide open. Who knows, maybe Drysdale and Campbell ate something bad. I wish all competitors to be in perfect health for their finals. Xeno Oympic gold and silver medalist, men's single scull. www.ironoarsman.com
    In Australia before the Olympics. - Click for full-size image!

    Men's single scull semifinal analysis
    posted by: Xeno Muller (August 13, 2008)
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    As I look at the time sheet of the first men's single scull semifinal, I remember different strategies my competitors and I had. In this 2008 semi, Olympic patience is what stands out when I read the times of the top three qualifiers. Karonen, Tufte, and Maeyens, kept their cool, while Hacker, a notorious fast starter accompanied by Hardcastle, whose best achievement was "only" 11. at the world championship in 2007, took the initiative to stir up the field and break away, without looking at their physical and mental gas tanks. From my own experience the top three qualifiers had spoken with their coaches about such a scenario and psycho analyzed Hacker as being a wild man, capable of a lot, yet fragile in the head, therefore breakable. The Australian was perceived as a competitor with a good first 1000M but not to get intimidated by it, because of a lack of past results in the single scull. Finally, Andre Vonarburg a consistent sculler in the small final, who has made it to the A-final at world cups, who usually gets beaten by Hacker, and he had not shown any dangerous speed so far in China. I can't wait to watch the race and analyze the Belgian single scullers technique. Maeyens compared to Tufte and Karonen, is a lot shorter and a lot ligther, and therefore I assume a lot less impressive on the ergometer, B U T he moves the boat!!!!!!!! I am foaming at the mouth waiting for the video footage to come to my laptop. Closing my eyes, I visualize Maeyens, hanging of his legs with straight arms, relaxed shoulders, supported lower back, a fluid hands away on the recovery, early body preparation, perfect catch.... You might tell me, quite visualizing about a guy who is not going to win a medal, and my response to you is, if there were a tail wind in the finals a guy like Maeyens could be very quick. So far we did not have ultra fast conditions for the men's single scull, and that is advantage for the big men. Men's single scull semi #2. Had I been either one of the non qualifying single scullers of this second semi, I would have prayed relentlessly to the rowing gods to give me unearthly strength in order to access the 2008 Olympic final, even if that meant being carried away on stretchers in the end. The three scullers who qualified, Synek, Campbell, and Drysdale, are without a doubt consistent finalist in any major regatta of the last three years. The top three qualifying spots were decided at the 1000 meter mark. However, Synek and Drysdale kept fighting for who gets to have the center lane in the final. The last five hundred meters raised questions: Why did Drysdale come in third and settled for an outside lane for the final, which in my opinion is a tactical disadvantage. He could have had lane 2 or 5 if not 3 and 4 had he stayed ahead of Synek. We will know at the Olympic finish line in a couple of days. Over and out for now. Xeno Muller Olympic gold and silver medalist. www.ironoarsman.com
    Click for full-size image!



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