Olympic gold medalist and rowing legend Mahé Drysdale spoke to the press during his visit to Sri Lanka on 24th October at the Cioconat Lounge.
New Zealander Drysdale, 33, is the current Olympic champion in the Men’s Single Sculls event, having won gold in London this year. He is also a five time gold medalist at the World Rowing Championships and the current world record holder in his event. Drysdale has participated in three Olympics, starting with Athens in 2004, when hewas placed fifth in the Men’s Coxless Four event.
The icon was invited to Sri Lanka by t-sips, which is produced by Expolanka Teas, in an effort to raise the profile of rowing in Sri Lanka. He was interviewed by Chandrishan Perera. DilshaadSideek, CEO of Expolanka Tea was also present.
Drysdale spoke at length about the need to support the development of rowing in countries such as Sri Lanka, particularly among the youth. “The greatest thing I can offer the sport is to get the youngsters involved,” he said, acknowledging his role as an inspiration to many young rowers. He will be meeting members of the rowing community during the next few days and is conducting a training session for a few lucky youngsters on Friday.
He also touched on the importance of knowing how to overcome obstacles, referring to his disappointing experience at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Drysdale, the clear favourite, came down with food poisoning prior to his final race, eventually being placed third. He said that afterward, “I had to make myself bullet proof.” His determination helped him make it through a back injury that kept him out of training for most of 2010, and even a road accident that had him off the water for three weeks just a month before the 2012 Olympics!
He described his taxing training schedule: twice a day, six days a week, eleven months of the year. Drysdale indicated that the successful Kiwi team do fewer gym workouts and dedicate most of their time to water training, rowing 24 hours per week. NZ Coach Dick Tonks’ maxim, “Miles makes champions,” is useful advice for any budding rower.
Drysdale spoke about his experience at the London Olympics as very emotionally taxing, and said the stress drove him to nervous vomiting just hours before his final race. His quiet pride in his gold medal was apparent; it was clearly the actualization of a long-cherished dream, reached by years of dedication and hard work. He credited athlete Carl Lewis and Kiwi sculler and Olympic gold medalist Rob Waddell for inspiring this dream.
Saying, “I’ve achieved every goal I’ve wanted in my rowing career,”Drysdale did not confirm whether he would participate in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but seemed to be leaning towards it.
t-sips is sponsoring this tour as their next step toward promoting rowing in Sri Lanka. In recent years they have sponsoredthe international FEARA Championships, the inaugural Schools’ Rowing Championships and have thrice sponsored the Royal-Thomian Regatta. They also proudly sponsor the Royal College Rowing Crew, the first corporate to do so for a rowing team.
