TEAM PHOTO byZimbio.com John Smith, James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, Sizwe Ndlovu

PHOTO of Sizwe Ndlovu ; Ann Woolliams

PHOTO of  Four at pontoon by Ann Woolliams

PHOTO of rowers and their nutritionist in the Rotorua boat shed

South Africa score historic rowing gold

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10824280

Three years ago, Sizwe Ndlovu gave up his job as an IT technician to pursue his dream of winning an Olympic gold in rowing at the London Games.

He achieved it Thursday when he stroked South Africa's lightweight men's four to victory in a nerve-jangling final at Dorney Lake, coming through late to edge a favored British crew by 0.25 seconds. It secured his country's first-ever gold medal in the sport and will make him and fellow crew members James Thompson, Matthew Brittain and John Smith iconic figures back home.

South Africa was a country with precious little international rowing pedigree when Ndlovu gave up his day job. At that point, it had won one medal in rowing a bronze in the men's pair at the Athens Games in 2004.Then, there was the fact he was a black man from KwaZulu Natal, a province whose sporting prowess is traditionally confined to rugby, cricket and football.

"I am the first black man in South African rowing (to win gold)," he told The Associated Press.

Sizwe Ndlovu trained at Rotorua Rowing Club preceding the 2010 World Rowing Champs .

Julia Edward 9^th in the world…

B-Final
WORLDROWING.COM ; Two boats got out in front by a small margin – World Best Time holders Louise Ayling and Julia Edward of New Zealand and Rianne Sigmond and Maaike Head of the Netherlands. Coming through from the semifinals both of these crews finished fifth in their respective races. Sigmond and Head then pushed out to a small edge going through the middle of the race. Ayling and Edward then found themselves under pressure from Cuba. The New Zealander’s pushed on.
Coming into the final sprint, the Dutch and New Zealand were leading the field. But then last year’s silver medallists, Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee of Canada came flying. Rating 46, Jennerich and Obee were giving it their all. It had worked. Obee and Jennerich finished seventh overall.

WOMEN ROWING LIGHTWEIGHT DOUBLE SCULLS

A FINAL; GREAT BRITAIN 7:09.30, CHINA 7:11.93, GREECE 7:12.09, DENMARK 7:15.53, AUSTRALIA 7:20.68, GERMANY 7:22.18

B FINAL; CANADA 7:17.24, NETHERLANDS 7:20.36, NEW ZEALAND 7:22.78, CUBA 7:23.25, UNITED STATES 7:23.31, JAPAN 7:32.12

Julia Edward 5^th in Semi Final 1…

Great Britain, Greece,Germany, USA,  New Zealand,Cuba

FROM WORLDROWING.COM In semifinal one of the lightweight women’s double sculls all six crews had the potential to be in the top three. Greece’s Alexandra Tisavou and Christina Giazitzidou are the reigning World Champions with spectacular racing ability. Great Britain’s Sophie Hosking and Katherine Copeland had a wonderful race in the heats. Germany and the United States both seem to step up with every race at this regatta and New Zealand are the World Best Time holders but come to these Olympic Games as relatively inexperienced.  Take your pick.
Semifinal two in the lightweight women’s double has China’s Dongxiang Xu and Wenyi Huang faced off against Denmark’s Juliane Rasmussen and Anne Lolk Thomsen. These two crews finishing seventh and eighth respectively at last year’s World Rowing Championships, but both of them must be given the award for most improved through this season.

The reigning World Champions, Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece jumped out into the lead over Lena Mueller and Anja Noske of Germany at the start of Semifinal One. Going through the middle of the race Tsiavou and Giazitzidou moved to a solid full boat-length lead. Going through the 1250m mark Katherine Copeland and Sophie Hosking of Great Britain began to move. It got them ahead of Germany and closed the gap on Greece. Rating 37, Copeland and Hosking continued to move and at the 1550m point they had the lead and with that, Copeland and Hosking powered home to a comfortable win. Greece held on to second with Germany qualifying for the final by finishing third. Newcomers New Zealand finished 5^th and move to the B Final.

Dongxiang Xu (b) and Wenyi Huang (s) of China (l) continued to have a great regatta . Xu, finished fifth at the Beijing Olympics. Today in Semifinal Two they got out in front of a fast-starting Australia (Bronwen Watson and Hannah Every-Hall) to take the lead.Going through the middle of the race,  there was nothing in it between China, Australia and Denmark. All three crews were working hard and trying to shake off the Netherlands. Then China and Denmark (Anne Lolk Thomsen and Juliane Rasmussen) started to pull away from the rest of the field. Australia tried to hold on as the sprint to the line saw Thomsen and Rasmussen rating 41 to keep up with Xu and Huang on 37.These three boats – China, Denmark and, in third, Australia had qualified for the final.

 

PHOTO ; www. STUFF.CO.NZ

Julia Edward 2^nd in the repechage …

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/olympics/7387976/Drysdale-hits-form-Kiwi-crews-into-semifinals

Ayling and Edward, who had been in such fine form in the leadup to the Games,

 came home second in their repechage, behind the Dutch pair and with plenty up

their sleeve at the finish. They felt they had addressed a few technical aspects of

their row and said they felt "comfortable" as they tried to conserve as much energy

as possible. 

Julia Edward 3rd in heat at London Olympics …

NZ rowing effort cools down at Eton Dorney

STUFF.CO.NZ; MARC HINTON IN LONDON .Last updated 00:20 30/07/2012

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/olympics/rowing/7372937/NZ-rowing-effort-cools-down-at-Eton-Dorney

 Ayling and Edward were far from despondent as they headed for an extra round

of action. They may have been forced into third by the fast-finishing Danes but a

closer inspection of times showed their 7:02 would have been good enough to win

either of the other two heats.

"It's good to get the nerves out of the way," said Ayling. "We're not disappointed

but we're not over the moon either we didn't get through to the semi ... but the

repechage can allow us to put into place what we need to work on and can also

give us that confidence that will help us to come through."

Edward felt it was important to keep things in perspective at this stage of the

 regatta. "Anything can happen at the Olympics so we just need to do what

we can do and not worry about everybody else," she said.

"We're just going to treat [the repechage] as another race and just build our

confidence a bit. The more races the better I’d say”.

Both crews have the pedigree to kick on from this. Uru and Taylor have been

together since Beijing, have one world title and a string of placings, and remain

well in the game.

And though Ayling and Edward are a new combination, their results this year

have been spectacular. They set a world's best time in their heat of the Lucerne

 regatta, before going on to finish second in the final, and also won the final

pre-Games hitout in Munich. The repechage should be a doddle for them.

- © Fairfax NZ News

PHOTO; (left to right) Julia Edward, Louise Ayling

The path to the Olympics

Training continues to intensify for Rotorua’s Olympic rower; Julia Edward. “ Training has been very tough lately but I feel it’s going to be all worthwhile! We have been doing a lot of long ‘ks’” said Edward.  “ We are still training 2-3 times a day and have two squad sessions each week to compare ourselves against the other Elite crews with World Prognostics.”

She added “Alan Cotter (High Performance Manager of Rowing NZ) said Rowing NZ’s expectation of us is to get into the A Final” commented Edward

“ But our coach said ‘No! They’re going to get a medal’, so Alan Cotter replied -‘ Right then- our new expectation is, that you two will get a medal!’ ”

Edward pursues her Olympic dream, under the superb coachmanship of Rowing NZ coach, John Robinson, from Marlborough. Two years ago, as everyone focused on the big rowers; Drysdale, Bond, Murray and Cohen and Emma Twigg, Robinson said of Edward ; “ Rotorua has the most promising young rower”.

Edward began her rowing career with Rotorua Girl’s High School, coached by Rotorua Rowing Club’s Head Coach; Alastair Riddle. Riddle was recognized for excellence, in 2011,

with the Bay of Plenty ‘Service to Sport’ Trophy.

After Riddle, Edward was coached by Ian Wright, the Head Coach of the Waikato Regional Performance Centre. Wright rowed in the coxed four which won a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. When Edward won Gold for the Women’s Lightweight Single sculls, at the 2012 New Zealand Club Champs, Wright said “ I knew you could do it!” .

Rowing NZ have given Wright a mission- to get the NZ Men’s coxed eight (8+) to the Olympics .The eight will attempt to qualify at the ‘Last Chance’ regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, on May 20.

If Wright succeeds, the New Zealand Men’s 8+ will win their race. There is only one place and the USA wants it badly.Edward agrees it is a huge hill to climb, but if anyone can do it, Wright can.

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO JULIA EDWARD

SELECTED TO GO TO THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS.

Julia will compete for New Zealand in the Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls.