159. ročník závodu osmiveslic mužů, které jsou sestaveny ze studentů dvou nejprestižnějších britských univerzit, vyhrála posádka Oxfordu. Komentátoři televizního kanálu BBC World, který závod vysílal v přímém přenosu, před startem mírně favorizovali právě Oxford.
V posádce Cambridge vesloval i Milan Bruncvík, první český účastník v historii závodu.
Knapková’s progression at Eton Dorney looked as clear as it could be: she won her heat (on 28 July), quarterfinal (31 July), and semifinal (2 August).
But, at the start of the A final (4 August), Czech Television’s commentator Pavel Čapek revealed to the audience that the Czech sculler “was fighting serious health problems”. It turned out that there was a problem but only Knapková’s close circle knew about it, including a few journalist fellow-countrymen – and they decided to keep it secret so that the sculler does not get distracted by media attention and her rivals are not granted psychological advantage.
As rowing observers (including Czech men’s sculling coach, Milan Doleček Sr.) pointed out, it probably was due to the health challenge that Knapková reached the perfect concentration and her rowing style became simpler and more economic.
“Being close to such an achievement will stay inside me until the end of my life,” says Czech physiotherapy doctor Pavel Kolář who helped the rower in her critical moments. In an interview published on the Czech news website Idnes.cz (affiliated with a broad-circulation daily, Mladá fronta Dnes) on 27 December 2012, Kolář remembers how he was called to help after the heats of women’s singles: “The whole of Mirka’s shoulder-blade hurt. Even my intervention didn’t show any remarkable improvement.” An MRI screening indicated a torn shoulder-blade fixator.
YouTube screen grab from a local television report on the funeral of Nemanja Nešić on 8 June 2012.
Nemanja Nešić rowed on Wednesday, 6 June in a lightweight double scull with partner Miloš Stanojević (Милош Станојевић), accompanied in a motorboat by coach Dejan Guslov (Дејан Гуслов). The Secretary-General of the Serbian Rowing Federation, Nebojša Jevremović (Небојша Јевремовић) described the tragedy as follows: “Nemanja got sick during the training. The fellow-rower from the boat hurried to help him and so did the coach. (…) They immediately took him off the boat and went to the shore where an ambulance was waiting. But, unfortunately, he had already been dead.” The ambulance team tried to resuscitate Nešić but in vain, Serbia’s rowing head told the media on 6 June.
Speaking about the regular medical testing, Jevremović said: “Nothing showed that a tragedy might happen. Nemanja had been a member of the national team for eight years, and, just as other team members, he would undergo a medical check twice a year. Last time he went for the check five months ago and the results simply did not indicate any problem.”
The chairman of the Serbian Olympic Committee, Vlade Divac (Владе Дивац) told the Serbian media on 7 June that Nešić was even scheduled for a regular medical check on that date, one day before which he had passed away. In Divac’s words, “Nemanja Nešić passed the last medical check in November and also in the meantime underwent common medical testing for athletes. Today, on Thursday, he was about to go for another check.”
An online version of Serbia’s Sportski Žurnal (Спортски Журнал) newspaper wrote on 7 June that international anti-doping commissioners visited Nešić in Smederevo some ten days before his sudden death and the doping test was negative.
