ΤΑ ΔΙΕΘΝΗ ΒΡΑΒΕΙΑ ΚΩΠΗΛΑΣΙΑΣ

2008 World Rowing Awards Presented in Paris

10/11/2008

The 2008 World Rowing Award winners received their honours on Saturday night in Paris, France. The the Female Crew of the Year, the Male Crew of the Year, the Coach of the Year and the Distinguished Services to Rowing awards were presented in front of an audience of more than 200 people at the World Rowing Awards Gala Dinner which signifies the completion of the annual World Rowing Coaches Conference and the opening FISA’s Joint Commissions Meeting. The ceremony was opened by FISA President Denis Oswald, FISA Executive Director Matt Smith, as well as Jean-Jacques Mulot, president of the French Rowing Federation, and Sophie Dion, special advisor for sport to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

2008 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year
Erin Cafaro, Lindsay Shoop, Anna Goodale, Eleanor Logan, Anna Cummins, Susana Francia, Caroline Lind, Caryn Davies and Mary Whipple (USA, W8+)
The women’s eight has been dominated at the Olympic Games by Romania in recent years. The United States changed all of that when they crossed the line in first place at the Beijing Olympics. Different formations of the crew have been together since the Athens Olympics where they won silver. Tenacity and perseverance paid off. Seven of the nine crew members were present in Paris to receive their award. Only Anna Goodale and Caryn Davies were not able to make it. They each paid tribute to their coach Tom Terhaar and to all their team mates, those who made the boat and those who did not.

2008 World Rowing Male Crew of the Year
Olaf Tufte (NOR, M1x)
Known for his huge capacity to work, Tufte is one of the few back-to-back Olympic Champions. His chosen boat is the single and he has been in this boat since 2001. At the 2004 Olympic Games, Tufte scored gold but then spent the next three years chasing world champion Mahe Drysdale. But, in the most important race, Tufte pulled off the win. Tufte successfully defended his Olympic title. FISA Development Director Thor Nilsen of Norway accepted the award on behalf of Olaf Tufte who is already very busy training for London 2012 and is even beginning to have the 2016 Olympic Games on his mind.

2008 World Rowing Coach of the Year
Aleksander Wojciechowski (POL)
Wojciechowski has all but sewn up the men’s quad for the last four years. His crew has made a clean sweep of a full Olympic cycle of winning. They took the World Championship title in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and along the way set the World Best Time. Despite a bit of a rocky season in 2008 his crew of Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowicz, Michal Jelinski and Adam Korol made all of the right moves at Beijing and became Olympic Champions.

2008 World Rowing Distinguished Services to Rowing
Zhang Qing (CHN)
Long-time Chinese sports leader, Zhang Qing was head of the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee (BOCOG) International Relations until his recent retirement and has been FISA’s Continental Representative for Asia since the early 1990s. He has helped greatly to develop rowing around Asia and particularly in China over the past 15 years. Qing saw one of his long-time goals come to pass when China’s women’s quadruple sculls won their nation’s first ever Olympic gold in rowing.