Knapková a lehká čtyřka vyhráli sprinty ve Švýcarsku

ENGLISH TITLE: Czech Republic’s Knapkova and Lightweight Four Win in Switzerland Sprints

Čeští veslaři si odvážejí dvě vítězství z dnešních závodů na krátké trati ve švýcarském Curychu. Poprvé od svého vítězství na olympiádě, kde startovala zraněná, zde veslovala skifařka Mirka Knapková a opět vyhrála.

Zvítězila rovněž čtyřka bez kormidelníka lehkých vah mužů, která porazila favorizovanou domácí sestavu. Závod byl nejvyrovnanější z celého programu, neboť se v něm sešly tři posádky, které startovaly na olympiádě – Češi, Švýcaři a Nizozemci. Za česká vesla tahali Ondřej a Jan Vetešníkovi, Miroslav Vraštil a Martin Slavík. Poslední jmenovaný nahradil člena olympijské sestavy Jiřího Kopáče.

Legenda Redgrave a jeho česká stopa

ENGLISH TITLE: The Living Legend Redgrave: A Czech Trace

Před slavnostním zahájením olympiády v Londýně se spekuluje o jménu sportovní osobnosti, která zapálí olympijský oheň. Jedním ze žhavých kandidátů je veslař Steve Redgrave, který co do olympijských zisků patří mezi nejlepší britské sportovce i nejúspěšnější veslaře světa: zlatou medaili si odvážel z každých her od Los Angeles 1984 až po Sydney 2000. (Tento rekord pak v Aténách 2004 vyrovnala rumunská veslařka Elisabeta Lipă.)

S tímto velikánem světového veslování souvisí jedna málo známá skutečnost. Jak uvádí kniha Four Men in a Boat („Čtyři muži v lodi“), Redgravův vstup do mezinárodního veslování nevypadal slibně: na mistrovství světa juniorů, které se roku 1979 konalo v Moskvě, soutěžil na skifu, ale vypadl už v kvalifikaci. Mezi jeho přemožitele patřil i československý reprezentant.

Z výsledkové databáze na stránkách Mezinárodní veslařské federace (FISA) vyplývá, že oním držitelem Redgravova skalpu je český veslař Miloš Zářecký, který nakonec na šampionátu v Moskvě skončil celkově 10. Vrcholem Zářeckého kariéry bylo mistrovství světa roku 1985 v belgickém Hazewinkelu, kde získal bronz na párové čtyřce.

Love in Another Language: A Movie Romance With Much Rowing

Shot in 2009, the Turkish fictional film “Love in Another Language” (Başka Dilde Aşk) is a love story of deaf man Onur and hearing woman Zeynep in Istanbul. Played by Mert Fırat (born 1981), the hero is an enthusiastic rower (obviously a lightweight sculler).

“Love in Another Language” may be the most rowing-permeated of the films whose stories are not essentially about the sport. Rowing scenes are included as if it were just by the way but you can indulge in them throughout the whole film: Onur practicing on an erg at home, going out in a single or a double, racing in a quad, checking the slide, getting off a Galatasaray Rowing jersey, sleeping in the boat park...

Czechs, Poles Head for Karapiro

The teams of the Czech Republic and Poland set for Karapiro, New Zealand, the scene of this year's World Rowing Championships. Four Czech and three Polish boats are going to fight for medals.

Czech rowing will be represented in men's and women's categories by singles and doubles. The Poles are sending women's doubles (standard and lightweight) and men's eight. The nominations have been announced on the websites of the national rowing bodies of both countries.

The Polish team left Warsaw on 14 October as confirmed on the personal website of Magdalena Kemnitz who rows in the bow seat of lightweight women's double.

According to the Czech Rowing Association website, the Czech rowers will fly from Prague on 16 October evening. They will join their team fellow Mirka Knapková, the women's single sculler who has already been in New Zealand since late September. Knapková was the first athlete to arrive at the World Championships venue, the websites of the FISA and the Czech Rowing Association have reported.

First Full-Fledged European Championships... Finally

The upcoming European Rowing Championships in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal are due to be much different from the previous years: for the first time since the championships were restored in 2007, Europeans get the opportunity to compete in all rowing events (not just the fourteen Olympic ones) and, unlike the past years again, most of the European rowing elite will really be present.

Rowing is a part of Europe's history. Source: Wikipedia.

The new history of the European Rowing Championships is problematic: the regatta was always held after the World Championships or Olympic Games and thus remained overshadowed by the real peak of the season. Many of the best European rowers did not bother to come – either because they already wanted to relax, or because they knew their main rivals would also stay home, or because they had anyway accomplished success on the world level for that season (European countries won 57% of rowing events at the 2008 Olympics and 70% of all events at the 2009 World Championships). Take Great Britain, one of the superpowers of rowing: two years ago, they sent seven boats to the European championships; last year, there was only one British boat.

In their current shape, the European Rowing Championships have largely become a regatta for: 1) reserve crews, 2) hopeful juniors, 3) experimental lineups, and 4) consolation prize seekers, i.e. those who might not be satisfied with their performance in the preceding World Championships or Olympic Games (see below for examples).

Polish Quad Lineup Changed Indeed – But for Medical Reasons

As I wrote three days ago, lineup changes were expected in the Polish men’s quadruple scull that had dominated this boat category since 2005 but stayed behind its standard in this year’s World Cup races. Now, with the World Cup finals in Lucerne, Switzerland, the 24-year-old Piotr Licznerski entered the golden crew as some Polish media had predicted. But the man replaced by Licznerski was the least expected one: the 36-year-old stroke Adam Korol. Yet there is no reason for sensation: Korol is temporarily out due to surgery.

Changes Likely in Golden Quad, Polish Media Suggest

Poland can boast an unusual rowing crew: men's quadruple scull that won all top events (world championships and the Olympic Games) between 2005 and 2009, moreover in an unchanged lineup. In 2006 and 2007, they were unbeaten in all World Cup regattas. But 2010 seems to be a different season for the bow Konrad Wasielewski, Marek Kolbowicz (both of Szczecin), Michał Jeliński (of Gorzów), and the stroke Adam Korol (of Gdańsk): not only have the “Dominators” (as the Polish media call them) announced they would not go to the world championships in New Zealand this year (“from our point of view, it will be simply too late”, the Sports.pl website quoted on 16 March Marek Kolbowicz as saying); but, they seem to be going through an unprecedented performance crisis now. In the two World Cup events held so far this year, they finished third in Bled and sixth in Munich, respectively.

Světový pohár v Mnichově: česká radost, vzestup Číny, pád Polska

ENGLISH TITLE: World Cup in Munich: Czech Joy, Rise of China, Fall of Poland

Mnichov pravidelně hostí druhý díl veslařského Světového poháru před jeho tradičním finále v Lucernu. V Mnichově už na rozdíl od prvního závodu Světového poháru (kam spousta posádek nejezdí) bývá nabitá konkurence.

Oberschleissheim severně od Mnichova, místo konání mezinárodních veslařských soutěží. Závodní kanál je vidět západně od obce. Zdroj: Google Maps.

Osobní výběr zajímavých momentů z Mnichova:

Skif mužů lehkých vah: Slovák Babač minule (ve slovinském Bledu) čtvrtý, v Mnichově až jedenáctý. Podobně Brazilec da Silva (loňský vicemistr světa v kategorii do 23 let) byl ve Slovinsku těsně před Babačem bronzový, nyní těsně za ním dvanáctý. Toto vše možná jen ilustruje zmíněné obohacení konkurence v Mnichově, kde startovalo 26 skifařů lehkých vah (v Bledu to bylo 13).

My Nomination of Vaclav Chalupa for the 2010 Thomas Keller Medal

I sent the following text to the FISA as a nomination proposal on 9 March 2010, the closing date for submissions. Chalupa's nomination as a finalist for this year's Thomas Keller Medal was finally published on the FISA web on 3 June and included quotes from my proposal as well as from someone else's submission. It was good to see that more people took the initiative to support Chalupa. Please, read further if you want to remember the highlights of this Czech man's life with rowing.

Main dates of the career:
1989-1993, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2007, 2009


Czech rower Vaclav Chalupa in 2009, the last year of his performance career. Source: YouTube screen grab.

1. Success at the international level, e.g. medal count taking level of competition into account:

Vaclav Chalupa Jr. (whose father, Vaclav Chalupa Sr., finished fifth in coxed pair in the 1964 Olympics) officially announced retirement from rowing after last year's world championships in Poznan, Poland. A Czech daily has characterised Chalupa's rowing career as going “from silver to silver” in a reference to the medals he took in his first (1989) and last (2009) senior world championships. During that time, Chalupa collected one Olympic silver (1992), five silver and three bronze medals from world championships (silver: 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2009; bronze: 1995, 1998, 2001), and one gold from European championships (2007), in addition to four fourth places at world championships (1999, 2002, 2003, 2005). He has competed at six Olympic Games, from Seoul 1988 to Beijing 2008.