Sport Rowing
EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW
J
urgen Grobler has a strong
claim to be the greatest
Olympic coach of all. He
has attended 11 Games,
and the only time his boats
have failed to take gold
was at the very first event in
Munich in 1972, when he was still a
junior coach working with a single
East German sculler.
As we approach Tokyo,
however, Grobler faces arguably
the biggest challenge of his career.
His squad was hit by a wave of
departures after Rio, including a
trio of charismatic talents –
Constantine Louloudis, George
Nash and Paul Bennett – who were
all in their mid-to-late twenties
when they quit the sport.
As a result, Grobler’s golden
chain is fraying. He still has a
couple of returning champions on
hand in Moe Sbihi and Tom
Ransley, but that is an unusually
low figure, especially given his
time-honoured policy of mixing
old-timers with newbies. Now that
the British team have become
rowing’s answer to the All Blacks- they topped the medal table at
the past three Games – there is
plenty of pressure on athletes and
coaches at this week’s World
Championships in Austria.
How does Grobler feel about
this uncertain landscape?
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph
at a recent GB training camp in
Portugal, he admitted that
“we lost a little bit of that
momentum” as a result
of the 2016 diaspora.
But there is an upside
too. Asked what keeps
him motivated at 73,
his craggy face
brightened.
“Working with young
people is fantastic,” he said.
“It’s like a bug. I always think
to do it again and again is a big
challenge – but interesting.
“Very often you are, ‘OK,
everybody can win with
him’. ” As he said this, Grobler
pointed at an invisible
athlete, as if visualising his
most famous alumnus, Sir
Steve Redgrave. “But when
‘him’ is gone and somebody
‘To be a good
teacher you
must motivate
and not bully’
else comes, you try again and that’s
the satisfaction. That’s the
motivation you have as a coach.”
Veterans of Grobler’s past crews
tend to speak warmly –
affectionately even – about the
coach who spent months reducing
them to human matchwood. “I
love the man,” said Pete Reed, the
naval officer who has won golds at
the past three Games.
“There is no other person you’d
want on your side,” chimed Reed’s
regular partner Andy Triggs
Hodge. The reason may be that – as
Redgrave put it – “Jurgen has a
very civil way about him. He is
open to discussion, but is also
forthright in his opinion. And 99
per cent of the time he is making
the right calls.”
A sturdy figure of medium
height, Grobler is dwarfed by most
athletes he works with. But he has
a forbidding aura that would make
you think at least three times
before crossing him. Sir Alex
Ferguson is a comparison you
often hear, for the two men give off
a similarly commanding vibe.
“He is definitely scary,” said
Graeme Thomas, who finished first
in his initial double-sculls heat on
Sunday. “But not in a kicking-stuff-
around-the-dressing-room sort of
way. It’s more a presence.
“I’ve heard him raise his voice
only half a dozen times and that’s
normally when he is refereeing
the football match we play at
our training camp in Sierra
Nevada. If he was a teacher he
would just stand at the front of
the class and everybody
would fall silent.”
Before our interview in
Avis, a lovely Portuguese
town that backs on to a
20-mile long reservoir,
Grobler sprung a surprise time
trial on his whole squad. They
lined up on their ergometers- the rowing machines you see
in any gym – and thundered
backwards and forwards on
their seats for 40 minutes
apiece. Grobler flitted around
the gym with his clipboard,
offering encouragement as
different athletes approached
the finish line. After the final
stroke, some slid breathlessly onto
the floor, while others crawled
away in search of a vomit bucket.
Afterwards, I asked him about
the difficult balancing act that
modern coaches have to perform.
Think not only of the recent
ructions at British Cycling and
British Gymnastics, but of
Grobler’s own colleague Paul
Thompson. Formerly head
women’s coach, Thompson was
cleared of bullying allegations after
Rio, only to resign at the end of last
year. As a result, Grobler is now in
nominal charge of both genders,
although his coaching will
continue to focus on the men.
“We should have a culture
where we have respect for young
people,” Grobler replied. “You have
to be a good teacher to motivate
them without bullying them.
“But it’s not easy and it’s a very
fine line. If you sign up for high-
performance sport, you will find
out very often you are not as good
as you think. To be the best in the
world you have to be special, and
to educate people about that is
maybe sometimes not so fine and
nice. Funding for the sport is all
based on success, and you can have
nice guys, fantastic atmosphere in
the training, everyone loving each
other and joking – but no results
means no money.”
Was it easier to lay down the law
when he worked in East Germany?
Grobler smiled ruefully. “You will
only be successful if you have the
right partnership with the athlete.
You see other nations like China
and that [a dictatorial approach]‘You can
have nice
guys and
everyone
loving
each
other but
funding
is all
based on
results’
Jurgen Grobler tells
Simon Briggs how he
intends to keep his
GB rowing squad at
the top of the medals
table in Japan next year
Golden touch:
Jurgen Grobler
(main) has been
coaching rowers
to Olympic titles
for more than
four decades,
with Sir Steve
Redgrave (below)
his most famous
alumnusSAS/GETTYOlympic medals won
under Grobler
2 two gold
4th=
1992 Position in medal table1 one gold, one bronze
7th=
19962 two gold, one silver
3rd
20001 one gold, two silver, one bronze
3rd
20042 two gold, two silver, two bronze
1 st
20084 four gold, two silver, three bronze
1 st
20123 three gold, two silver
1 st
20161
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2
2
2
1
1
2
3
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16 *** Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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