11 / 11 / 2011
FISA, the International Rowing Federation, is proud to announce the
winners of the 2011 World Rowing Awards for each of the five awards
categories: Coach of the Year, Female Crew of the Year, Male Crew of the
Year, Adaptive Crew of the Year and Distinguished Services to Rowing.
The 2011 World Rowing Awards have honoured rowing representatives from Greece, New Zealand, Ukraine and Argentina.
Following public nomination which attracted nearly 2,000 submissions,
the final selection of awardees was made by the Executive Committee of
the International Rowing Federation (FISA). The winners will be
announced today, Friday 11 November, during the World Rowing Coaches
Conference Gala Dinner in Varese, Italy.
Greece’s rowing success in recent years is acknowledged with two of
World Rowing’s annual awards: the Coach of the Year Award goes to Gianni
Postiglione, while the Female Crew of the Year goes to the lightweight
women’s double of Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou.
The World Rowing Male Crew of the Year is awarded to New Zealand’s
men’s pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, while Ukraine’s Alla Lysenko
picks up the World Rowing Adaptive Crew of the Year award. Ricardo
Ibarra from Argentina is the recipient of the World Rowing Distinguished
Service to International Rowing award.
2011 World Rowing Coach of the Year
Gianni Postiglione (GRE)
Whenever an international rowing event is taking place there is little
doubt Gianni Postiglione will be there. He has been to six Olympic Games
and 29 World Rowing Championships. Postiglione, originally from Italy,
has been Greece’s head coach since 2005 and also serves on FISA’s
competitive commission at World Rowing events.
Postiglione coached in Italy for nearly 20 years, followed by stints in
Japan and Spain, before taking over his current Greek position. The
success of Greece since his arrival is remarkable in both men’s and
women’s rowing.
The constant pursuit of learning more, relishing unconventional ideas
and pulling inspiration from all sporting disciplines is what
Postiglione readily attributes his coaching success to. He is known for
focusing on the sensation of rowing, including the feeling of the water
and the weather conditions.
This is the second time Postiglione has been given the World Rowing Coach of the Year Award. He also won it in 2006.
"For me it's a great honour to receive this award for the second time,”
said Postiglione. “My greatest satisfaction is to coach, so I consider
this award as an encouragement for me and my team to continue. I am
particularly proud over the years, not of a gold medal in particular,
but of the results of men and women which demonstrate the overall
quality of work that is being achieved with only a few rowers available.
I thank all of them for trusting me over these years. The job of head
coach is not lonely. I get to work not only with athletes but also
passionate coaches. The group that I have in Greece is truly
exceptional, I thank them all."
2011 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year
Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou (GRE), Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)
Joining together in the lightweight double in 2009 spelt instant magic
for Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou - they became World
Champions despite having spent the majority of the season in separate
boats. Tsiavou had won the World Rowing Cups in the lightweight single
while Giazitzidou had won gold in the under-23 lightweight double with
Triantafyllia Kalampoka. This has become the norm for Tsiavou, 26, and
Giazitzidou, 22, who have continued to achieve success separately at the
beginning of the season and astound the world of rowing whenever they
come together at the end of the season for the World Rowing
Championships and the European Rowing Championships.
In 2010, the duo finished with bronze at the World Rowing Championships
but came back in 2011 to reassert themselves and win the World
Championship title back in dominating form: on the waters of Lake Bled
in Slovenia, they won by more than three and a half seconds ahead of
2010 World Champions, Canada. Tsiavou and Giazitzidou have also won gold
at the European Rowing Championships every year since 2009. Giazitzidou
has also been a World Under-23 Champion for the past three years.
2011 World Rowing Male Crew of the Year
Eric Murray and Hamish Bond (NZL), Men’s Pair (M2-)
When Hamish Bond, 25, and Eric Murray, 29, embarked on a mission in the
pair in 2009, they soon realised they had formed a combination with
world class potential. This saw the beginning of a winning streak that
has remained unbroken ever since they came together. In that time Bond
and Murray have been relentlessly challenged by Great Britain’s top
sweep duo, but have always managed to remain in front at the finish
line, at times by considerable margins.
Bond and Murray were part of the 2007 World Champion men’s four, but
when the four finished a disappointing seventh at the 2008 Olympic
Games, the duo realised they had unfinished business. Bond persuaded
Murray to continue rowing and they formed a pair. Coached by 2010 World
Rowing Coach of the Year, Dick Tonks, the duo have constantly worked at
not only going fast but at how to stay ahead of their competition.
“Unfortunately we won't be able to make it to the coaches conference to
collect the award,” said Murray. “We felt it was best to just keep
trucking away down here and get the best quality training in as we can
without our programme being too disrupted.”
“It was pretty special to be nominated for this award and to win it is
exceptional! I am thrilled that we got ‘the nod’ from the judges as
recognition of our achievements this past year. We are always working to
become better at what we do and find better ways to make our boat
faster. Our combination is brilliant and the dynamic between Hamish and
me is one which we both push each other and constantly look for
perfection and also compete against one another to be the best.”
“We thank World Rowing for their recognition to us as Male Crew of the
Year. We are really looking forward to the next 260 odd days until
London.”
2011 World Rowing Adaptive Crew of the Year
Alla Lysenko (UKR), AS Women’s Single Sculls (ASW1x)
It did not take Alla Lysenko long to get to the top of her event. In
Lysenko’s first year of rowing in 2009, she became World Champion in the
AS women’s single sculls and, in a phenomenal performance she also set a
new World Best Time. Lysenko was not able to make it to the World
Rowing Championships in 2010 due to ill-health, but she came back this
year to reclaim her World Championship title from 2010 winner, Nathalie
Benoit of France.
Lysenko, 42, suffered a spinal cord injury and had both legs amputated
following a car accident in 1996. Rowing is the first disability sport
that Lysenko has competed in. She has won every international race that
she has entered.
2011 World Rowing Distinguished Service to International Rowing
Ricardo Ibarra (ARG)
Ricardo Ibarra is one of the most successful rowers to come out of
Latin America. He raced at the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games in the men’s
single as well as competed in four World Rowing Championships. He
dominated the men’s single at the Pan American Games from 1975 until
1983.
At both Olympics Ibarra competed in the A-final, a feat that is unusual
for a Latin American rower and only two rowers in Latin America have
been more successful – Alberto Demiddi and Santiago Fernandez.
After retiring from elite rowing Ibarra remained involved in the sport
and has coached in a number of countries including Chile, Spain and
Argentina. Ibarra is also the long-standing FISA development consultant
for Latin America and is the South American Continental Representative
on the FISA Council.
To view the list of previous winners, click here.
Με
διπλή παγκόσμια διάκριση κλείνει η χρονιά για την ελληνική κωπηλασία
αφού το διπλό σκιφ των γυναικών με τις Χριστίνα Γιαζιτζίδου και
Αλεξάνδρα Τσιάβου αναδείχθηκε το καλύτερο γυναικείο πλήρωμα στον κόσμο
καθώς και ο τεχνικός σύμβουλος της ΕΚΟΦΝΣ Τζιάνι Ποστιλιόνε κορυφαίος
προπονητής στον κόσμο για το 2011 όπως ανακοίνωσε σήμερα Παρασκευή 11/11
η Διεθνή Κωπηλατική Ομοσπονδία.
Εισαγωγή αθλητών στην Τριτοβάθμια Εκπαίδευση