Doping, drugs, David and Dwain: Chambers and Millar return to the Olympic fold

So Dwain Chambers and David Millar could be competing for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics, despite being banned for doping offences. The Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) has decided that a lifetime ban by the British Olympic Association does not comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency code and is therefore unenforceable. This has caused a big kerfuffle in the sporting world, with clean sportsmen and women understandably feeling outraged that the good name of their sport could be tainted. Yet I can’t help thinking that it’s the right decision.

Of course, nobody wants to give the nod to doping offences, either directly or indirectly, and I can quite see why sports people who have always scrupulously competed without chemical assistance should be upset. But I can’t get away from the notion that everyone – including sports people – should be allowed to serve their time and then get on with their lives and careers. They made a mistake, they’ve paid the price, so now let’s see what they can do without the drugs. Test them and retest them and then let them compete properly, like they should have done in the first place.

This isn’t a popular point of view, so let’s hear what you’ve got to say about it. Should Dwain Chambers and David Millar be allowed back in the fold? Are the Olympics tainted if they compete? Should doping always lead to a lifetime ban or is everyone entitled to a second chance even if they’ve fallen prey to the temptation of taking drugs? Girl on the River has had her say: now it’s over to you.

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An Interview with Sir Matthew Pinsent

London 2012 Olympic Games: The Official Book, published by Carlton, £12.99, available from all good book shops and online

You may recall that a few weeks ago I told you that to celebrate the launch of the Official Book of the London 2012 Olympic Games, rowing legend and all round nice guy Sir Matthew Pinsent had (perhaps rashly) agreed to submit himself for questioning, and that members of the public (and that included you) were invited to send in their questions for him.

Now, with fewer than 100 days to go, the results are in. The best questions were put to Sir Matthew and I’m excited to say that one of mine was included; it’s the third question in, so listen out for it.

If you want to know whether the great man wears his medals around the house or fancies himself in another Olympic sport, you need to get watching. Here it is:

The book – as I reported before – is a good read, too, so don’t forget to order your copy online or look out for it in the shops.

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An accidental half marathon

I blame Jürgen Grobler. Or possibly Team GB. Or whoever had the frankly inspired idea to announce the GB Olympic crews by means of a row-past (genius – the drama!) Anyway, whoever is to blame, the point is that I was excited and distracted and not in my right mind around 11 a.m. today. Which was precisely the moment that one of the girls in my rowing club emailed everyone to find out if we were interested in entering the Cardiff Half Marathon in October. That’s a running half marathon: 13 long miles of RUNNING. Not rowing: running.

So taken with the blow-by-blow team updates on Twitter was I that, without giving it due and sober consideration, I sent back an immediate reply. “I’m in!!” With that one email I sealed my fate and agreed to run in public for a distance far beyond my wildest imaginings (or nightmares).

What remains to be seen is how I will train for this monstrous event around my existing weekly commitments of three outings on the river and one bootcamp session which, given my tendency to fatigue, will leave me one running day to play with every week. And how I’ll cope with running on tarmac when I’m used to forgiving, mossy forest trails.

However daunted the new Olympic rowing squad are feeling about the prospect of the Olympics and the pressure to win, it’s nothing compared with the apprehension that has overcome me with the thought of all those miles between me and the finish. “New chapter”, tweeted Pete Reed this afternoon. I know what he means.

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London 2012 Olympic Games: The Official Book – and #AskMatthewAnything

London 2012 Olympic Games: The Official Book, published by Carlton, £12.99, available from all good book shops and online

Fans of Girl on the River might have noticed that so far I haven’t said much about the 2012 Olympics. I can’t deny that I was pretty disappointed not to get any tickets, and might even have been in a tiny bit of a huff. But, in true Girl form, I have bounced back and am now burning with Olympic Fever. So when I was asked to review the Official Olympic Book, I was pretty chuffed and all hard feelings were put to one side. The book – proper title – London 2012 Olympic Games THE OFFICIAL BOOK, is being launched on 18th April by our very own rowing hero and four times gold medal-winning Olympic champion, Sir Matthew Pinsent, and is accompanied by a genius Twitter campaign called #AskMatthewAnything.

Sir Matthew Pinsent - rowing royalty and Nice Man

In common with most of us, I have long been a fan of Pinsent’s. Quite apart from the awe and wonder with which I regard his rowing career, it seems that he is a thoroughly nice man. Far from swanking around enjoying his status as rowing royalty, he is an enthusiastic supporter of youth rowing and turns up to events with his sleeves rolled up, happy to muck in. A couple of years ago, at the Junior Sculling Head at Dorney Lake, he quietly helped Son on the River’s (distinctly novice and undistinguished) crew to lift their boat off the water; it was only afterwards that they realised who the friendly fellow with the strong arms was. That truly embodies that Olympic spirit.

Anyway, hero worship aside, back to the book. I had expected something big and glossy – a coffee-table, hard-cover number. Instead – rather like Pinsent himself – the book is (despite its distinctive gold cover)  surprisingly modest, not in content but in appearance. It’s only available in paperback and is smaller than A4 in size. Once on the inside, though, it is a fantastically fact-packed, nicely illustrated volume. It takes you through the history of the Olympics, introduces you to the 2012 venues and then proceeds, discipline by discipline, through all of the sports represented at the Olympic Games, noting quirky facts alongside tips about which athletes are the ones to watch.

Chez Girl on the River we spent an entertaining weekend breakfast time leafing through the book. Son on the River II helped to make it a fully multimedia experience with the help of YouTube, playing clips of great Olympic moments. There’s still plenty more to read and I shall now be that tiresome person who bores anyone who will listen with my new stash of Olympic factoids.

So where does #AskMatthewAnything come in? To celebrate the launch, you are invited to put any question you like – however random or crazy – to Matthew Pinsent. A selection of the questions will be chosen and put to Sir Matthew himself and his answers will appear on Twitter (and on here, I promise). To participate, tweet your question, accompanied by the hashtag #AskMatthewAnything, @carltonbooksPR and @girlontheriver. If you’re not on Twitter, put your question in the comment section below and I’ll pass it on on your behalf.

I’ve kicked off with my own question this afternoon. What is it? Ah, well to find out you’ll have to follow me first – @girlontheriver.

Go on, ask away.

London 2012 Olympic Games: The Official Book, published by Carlton, £12.99, available from all good book shops and online.

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Rowing – how hard can it be?

There are a lot of non-rowers out there amongst my readers – and some pretty impressively fit ones, I’ll be the first to admit. Now, I’m guessing some of you runners and triathletes and body builders have had a go on the rowing machine in the gym every now and then (forgive me while I pause for the rowers to have a quiet snigger; our favourite sport, apart from rowing, is watching non-rowers on the erg). I’m also guessing you’re up for a challenge.

Well, now’s your chance to find out how good you really are at the erg. World Champion rowers Katherine Grainger and Olympic gold medallists Mark Hunter and Greg Searle are giving you an insight into just how hard the selection for the GB Rowing Team is by inviting you – yes, that’s you – to take your own trial on a rowing machine.

For the month of February the team is running The Nation on Trial initiative: the chance to take your own 2km trial, whilst also raising money for the event’s charity partner, The Stroke Association. 2km is the distance of the Olympic rowing course and is the standard length of race at the World and British Rowing Championships.

The 2k erg test is also possibly the hardest thing a rower ever has to do; and most rowers have to do them at regular intervals. They can, in some clubs, make the difference between getting a place in a boat and watching from the bank.

So, back to the challenge. Here’s how it works. Anyone of any ability aged 16 and over can register on the event website www.nationontrial.org and access expert training advice on how to use a rowing machine as well as hearing messages of encouragement from World Champions such as Grainger, Richard Chambers and Searle. You train and build up to rowing 2km as fast as you can on a rowing machine at a local gym or rowing club. You record your time as many times as you like on the event website between 1 and 29 February; this will show how you compare with friends and workmates as well as with the entry standard for the GB selection process.

Who knows? You might find you get a taste for it. You might decide to try out rowing on the water. You might even find you’re one of that rare breed of people (count me out) who actually enjoy the erg. Just one thing, though. Ergs don’t float.

 

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Rowing in healthy shape

Good news, in an otherwise gloomy worldwide picture. We may be facing a global economic crisis, but it’s not stopping people from taking up a sport that’s always had a reputation for being elitist and expensive. British Rowing announced yesterday that its membership figures rose by a heartening 2,000 in 2011. Thanks to programmes like Explore Rowing (and less formal endeavours like the Learn to Row course that we ran at Monmouth RC last year, which brought in a brand new bunch of lovely new people to the club), rowing figures are on the up.

You don't need even need to look like this

It goes to show that rowing really is for everyone. You don’t have to talk like the Queen or have the bank balance of Bill Gates to join a rowing club and it’s way better value than most gym memberships. And with the Olympics just round the corner there’s even the Row for Gold programme to get you excited.

If you still haven’t tried it, maybe it’s time for a cheeky, last-minute New Year’s Resolution. Go on, you know you want to.

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The one where I joined the GB rowers

I know it’s unlikely. Me, pint-sized, featherweight and spectacularly unsuccessful novice rower, firmly in the Masters *cough* category, rowing the Tideway with two of Britain’s finest U23 rowers. Has to be a joke, right?

Well, actually, no. Today I joined GB U23, Olympic hopefuls Ben Duggan and Nick Middleton in a mixed quad for a paddle out of London Rowing Club in Putney. You can look out for us at Henley next year (OK, now I’m joking).

It was all thanks to the good people at Oartec who were there to showcase a selection of their rowing machines (of which much more in my next post – together with photos, technie stuff and even a shameful confession on my part).

Ben and Nick, together with fellow Leander member Alan Sinclair, told us all about what it takes to cut it as an international rower (a whole lot of work, calorie counts to die for and an attitude to alcohol that would put the England rugby team to shame – and again, more of all of that in a later post, too). We got a chance to try out the ergs (actually fun when you have an international rower supervising it – must suggest that to our club captain…)

And then our boat arrived.

Admittedly, it wasn’t the finest or fastest craft in the world – a “virtually unsinkable” tubby rigged as a quad – but who’s complaining when you’ve got internationals at bow and stroke? Nick took the bow seat, fellow journalist Dominic Hart (sports ed at the Daily Mirror) was at 2, I sat at 3 and Ben at stroke.

Now then. Remember what I said in a previous post about everything melting down when you’re rowing in front of the clubhouse and wanting to impress people? Now imagine that the people you’re wanting to impress are not the club captain or even the mocking juniors, but the best rowers you’ve ever met and are ever likely to meet. Exactly.

Needless to say, the Little People got a fair amount of revenge in. Struggling with a sticky gate on stroke side that made feathering a challenge (yeah, yeah, blame the boat, why don’t you?), I certainly reinforced my novice status, catching several crabs and generally rowing my worst.

But it was an experience I wouldn’t have missed for the world. How many people get the chance to practise their sport with their sporting heroes in actual, real life? OK, so I may have rowed like a beginner, but I was rowing like a beginner with Britain’s best.

So a massive thank you to Oartec. A massive thank you to the Leander boys for being so patient and generally amazing. And despite their best efforts, a big yah-boo-sucks to the Little People.

GirlontheRiver 1,000,000: Little People: 0

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Girls with gongs

The sporting world has come a long way in the last few decades, losing a lot of its old prejudices and practices. But as soon as it comes to the medals ceremonies I find my hackles rising . Invariably the athletes – tough, determined men and women who have pushed their minds and bodies to levels most of us can only dream of – are greeted not by fellow or former athletes, but by a parade of perfectly matched, perfectly groomed, smiling ladies, often scantily clad in short skirts and high heels.

I’m talking, of course, about the medal bearers.

These ones, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, were at least modestly clad, but at some events it all starts to get a bit, well, Benny Hill. Now I don’t want to get all po-faced on you, but it just doesn’t seem right at a modern sporting event for any official to be sporting a look that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1970s game show.

What’s the alternative, then? Rowing kit supplier, Rock the Boat, has suggested having local cubs and brownies to bear the medals, though some say the medals couldn’t be entrusted to anyone so young.

What do you think? If you have views or ideas on the subject – even if you reckon I’m just being a grumpy old woman – comment below and let me know what you think.

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A bit of hero worship

Do you ever stop to wonder how you might cope if something catastrophic happened to you?

How would you react if, say, a freak accident took away your ability to walk? Or if  a degenerative illness confined you to a wheelchair? Most of us, I imagine (and I include myself here) would fall into a depression. I strongly suspect that I would indulge in a lot of self-pity. I might even, on occasion, get off on the drama of it all, before lapsing back into negativity.

Which is why I’m so in awe of our Paralympians who, today, are celebrating International Paralympic Day. Far from letting their condition, whatever that might be, blight their lives, they have battled through to become elite athletes.

Take the adaptive rowers, for example. What struck me most when I looked into their stories was how hard it was to find out why they were adaptive rowers. It’s easy to find out their height, their weight, the club where they row. But the accident or illness that put them in the adaptive category? You have to search long and hard to find out anything about it. They all choose not to dwell on it.

GB rower Tom Aggar, who won a gold medal at the World Championships in Slovenia last week, used to play rugby for the University of Warwick and was a member of the Saracens youth development squad. When a random accident in 2005 left him with a spinal injury, far from giving up on his sporting aspirations, he turned to rowing. He rows in the “arms, shoulders” category (yes, guns to die for) and has won gold in three rowing world championships and the 2008 Paralympic Games. It’s high time he was a household name.

Aggar wasn’t alone in representing Great Britain on the podium last week: there was also GB’s LTAMix4+ (a coxed, mixed four rowing with legs, trunk and arms). Pamela Relph (who has restrictive and painful arthritis that cut short a career in the Royal Engineers), Naomi Riches (who is registered blind), David Smith (whose ambitions in Olympic-level bobsleigh were thwarted by his club foot, which led to injury problems) and James Roe (who is visually impaired) snatched the gold from the previous world champions, Canada.

Rowing is a sport that demands strength, determination and courage. These athletes have all of those qualities, and some. And then some more. Let’s hope they feel the love today.

LTAMix4+. Picture courtesy of Intersport Images/GB Rowing Team

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Read this if you’re not a rower (and if you are one)

The chances are that if you’re not a rower and you don’t listen to Radio 5 live, you won’t be aware of the dramas that have been unfolding in the last week on a picturesque lake in Bled, Slovenia (which, incidentally, has now been added to my Must Visit list – what a stunningly beautiful place). If you don’t know about it, I’m here to bring you up to date, because I think it’s a shame that more people haven’t heard the good news.

Whilst the eyes of the world have been turned towards Bolt’s false starts and Mo Farah’s gold medal, Britain’s rowers have been quietly proving themselves in the World Rowing Championships, coming top in the medal table with an extraordinary total of seven golds, three silvers and four bronzes, and setting themselves up nicely for 2012 (which makes me even sadder that I didn’t manage to get any tickets). Why the BBC website has rowing hidden away under “Other Sports” I can’t understand; our rowers are amongst our most successful and impressive athletes.

The championships weren’t without their ups and downs. There were last minute surges, photo finishes, illnesses in the squad and the odd disappointment, but the medal haul established GB once again as a force to be reckoned with.

If you missed all the fun, you can catch up here. Oh, and don’t rule out Slovenia for your next holiday.

LM2x gold L to R Zac Purchase Mark Hunter 2011 World Champs in Bled. Photo by Intersport Images/GB Rowing Team

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