Olympic champions revel in world class facilities

Tuesday 20 January, 2009

 A section of the Great British rowing team has converged on the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra this week to make use of what are some of the best facilities worldwide.

Following on from their success at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where Great Britain topped the rowing tally with three gold medals, Head Coach of Great Britain’s women’s heavyweight and men’s lightweight rowers, Paul Thompson, has brought these squads to Australia for a training camp.

Canberra born Thompson, who moved to Great Britain in 2001 and has since established the country as the top ranked nation in world rowing, says the camp was going to provide a crucial stepping stone for the coming season.

“We normally head to Spain in January of each year to get in some good solid training but we wanted to mark the end of the last Olympiad in a different way,” Thompson said. “We have come down here to Australia and the heavyweight men are currently in South Africa.

“It’s been great to get some good, clean water here in Canberra as our training lake in England is currently frozen over. The facilities here are excellent.”

A number of the medallists from Beijing have made the trip to Australia, along with a few up and coming athletes who are pushing the top rowers in Great Britain, emphasising the current depth in the sport.

This depth was only heightened at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival last weekend in Sydney, when Great British crews walked away with seven of the twelve gold medals on offer.

The squad will remain in Canberra until next Monday before returning home to prepare for the domestic and international rowing seasons in the middle of the year.

For more information please call David Polglase on 0401 453 041