Going for gold: the Olympic diary of rower James Chapman (Part II)

Just as the 100-days-to-go mark ticks over until the opening ceremony in Beijing, it’s time to jet off and fly the Australian flag at World Cup regattas in Germany and Switzerland.

James has been selected in the Australian men’s eight for the Beijing Olympics. He will be producing a diary for The Roar in the lead-up to the start of the Games on August 8.

Rowing’s World Cup regattas do not translate into significant four-year events like the Football World Cup or Rugby World Cup (or even the Rugby League World Cup, for that matter). There are three regattas held each year, with the points accumulated at each of these events tallied to determine the World Cup winner. Canada is the reigning World Cup men’s eight champion after meets in Linz, Amsterdam and Lucerne last year.

Unfortunately, there is little to zero chance we can win the points tally as we’re only competing at the first two stages of the World Cups – Munich (8-11 May) and Lucerne (30 May – 1 June). However, it suits our preparation – with Beijing the biggest fish to fry – to jet back to Australia in June to knuckle down to some selective training, rather than taper and peak again for the third of the World Cups in Poznan, Poland (20-22 June).

We completed preparations in Canberra with some intense race work, against the clock only, and against the fresh new winter that has dropped in on the nation’s capital over the last week – a timely reminder as to why Europe is a great idea. We did two race pieces this morning over 1500 metres (the course on Lake Burley-Griffin is only 1800m; the Olympic distance is 2000m) and the temperature at day break was a tightening -1 degrees.

By tightening, I mean that in the third minute of race work when your quads and glutes are screaming for fresh blood and oxygen, and all you can suck down is air that feels like its been pumped straight from a glacier…that’s tightening. The lungs don’t seem interested in processing such bitterly cold breathes.

Nonetheless, the race sets were solid, not spectacular, and we learned a fair bit from them. With the training load heavy recently, the residual fatigue is going to affect performance, but a series of race work sessions has the guys well-prepared and up-beat for our international debut as a crew in just nine days time.

Concentration levels have been revved up and the feeling is that now we’re down to double-digit days before Beijing kicks off, we can get even faster. After focussing on some technical improvements with the coaching staff, lead by Brian “Richo” Richardson, there’s definitely a buzz, from cox to bowman, when we’ve got the boat at full tilt. The guys are now itching to be put under the pump against some of our Olympic rivals in Europe.

Off the water, we also got a good buzz out of some recent TV coverage. Last Tuesday, the ABC’s 7.30 Report put together a story on the men’s eight, with a firm focus on James Tomkins’s outlook as he prepares for a phenomenal 6th Olympics. You can watch the story below:

Then last Sunday, another story on James and the crew was broadcast on Wide World of Sports on Channel 9. Tim Sheridan spent a few days with us, and it was a nice insight into our preparations in Canberra. I’ll corner James Tomkins for a chat on The Roar soon, but for now, let me introduce another crewmate.

Tom Laurich is one of the big boppas of the crew, walking at 200cm tall (six ft seven) and weighing a svelte 100 kilograms neat. He’s from Avalon in Sydney, which makes him a very big beach bum (size-wise, at least).

With his build, he’s one of the power mongers in the boat, a prime mover, lifting big weights and monstering ergos. He’s currently sitting in the 4 seat, the middle of the boat, also known as the engine room. He’s bloody good at throwing chat during training sessions and races, firing all those up around him and getting the vibe up when its getting tough.

Here’s Tom below in the strength and conditioning facility at the AIS in Canberra. He’s doing one-legged leg presses, shooting the mechanism up in the air at speed, quite similar to the leg speed in the boat.

What Tom possesses in rowing talent and chat, his wife Alison possesses in cooking talent and hospitality. Ali, also known as “Sweet Wife” has, at some stage, hosted all of us for dinner (more fuel) and also provided baked goods on birthdays. She earns her nickname as Tom has done well.

Below is Sam Loch doing one of the many things he does to a high standard, utilising his musculature. This photo’s just a teaser for the admirers. I’ll introduce him soon.

Next, I’ll be writing from Germany.

All the best,

Chappos

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