Rowers anonymous
Years ago
Letter from female rower
I hope this letter can help clear some of the confusion surrounding the tragedy that occurred when Sally Robbins stopped rowing mid race in the Olympic Final of the Women's Eight on Sunday 22 August.
I retired from competitive rowing after six years on the Australian Team, having won a Silver Medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in the women's pair, and a silver medal in the Women's Eight at the World Rowing Championships in 2002. The crew I raced with in 2002 contained most of the amazing women whose dream was snatched from them in Athens on Sunday; Sally Robbins was not one of those women.
In 2002 Sally Robbins was a member of what was arguably the best Australian Women's Quad Scull ever put on the water. In the final of the 2002 World Championship Quad Scull Race, Australia was blitzing the race, leading the entire field all the way - it was as about as sure a thing as you could get to having the World Title 'in the bag', when, with approximately 400metres to go, Sally Robbins stopped rowing. The Australian crew dropped back and finished in fourth position. Sally's three teammates were understandably shocked, devastated and in consolable: not at all dissimilar to the sickening re-enactment I witnessed on Sunday. It is no surprise that the members of that Women's Quad did not row with Sally Robbins again.
The volume of training the Australian Women's Eight has undertaken in preparation for Sunday's race is super human. Prior to Athens the team spent five weeks in high altitude training at St Moritz, training for up to seven hours per day. As an ex-athlete who has completed the St Moritz camp in the past, I can assure you that this sort of training produces super fit racing machines. I know first hand exactly how exhausted you get in a rowing race, and let me tell you, the thought of stopping is very tempting when you are burning up in pain, and under the extreme pressure that international competition produces. I have never, ever seen anyone at an elite level stop rowing except for Sally Robbins, twice, under extreme pressure and in extreme pain, both times costing her crewmates medals at the highest level. The fact this has occurred numerous times in her career is criminal.
If Sundays display by Sally were the first time she had acted in such a way, you would have seen a very different reaction by her crewmates. Sally's crewmates in the Women's Eight had overcame their doubts about her 2002 performance, and given her their trust. What the public witnessed after Sunday's race was the crew's devastating realization that this trust had been misplaced in what should have been one of the greatest moments in their lives.
What happened on Sunday, and previously in 2002 is no different than one of our Australian swimmers stopping swimming mid race in the Olympic Relay Final. There is no doubt in my mind that Sally Robbins quitting on Sunday was a repeat display of complete mental weakness, not 'physical exhaustion' as the media is reporting. I am so sorry for my great mates who were in that boat, who have each made enormous personal sacrifice, not to mention their families, the tireless support team of physios, doctors, coaches, sport scientists etc. It would appear what was lacking from this team was a sports psychologist. The question of why Sally Robbins was selected onto the Australian Team after her display in 2002 needs to be raised with the decision makers of Rowing Australia.
Rachael Taylor
