Champion four break up

Press, 21 June 1985, Page 23

Champion four break up

Netzler, Trumpler, Wertnauer, Saille — in Switzerland they are household names. These rowers comprised the coxless four which won a silver medal at the 1981 world championships, a gold in 1982, and finished fifth in the Los Angeles Olympics, where New Zealand took the principal honours. However, the quartet’s era as champions of Switzerland has come to an end. This season both Trumpler and Saille have retired from rowing; Wertnauer, a former European junior single sculls champion, is to Xfijurn to that and

The second in a series of rowing articles snecially written for “The Press” by JOHN F COOK.

Netzler has formed a coxless pair with Mark Nater, from the Swiss double sculls combination at the last Olympics. The first international regatta of the season was held It Kussnacht, in Switzerland. The Nater-Netzler combination won the coxless pairs on both days. On the first day they beat Kovac and Zetner, previously a part of the Swiss lightweight four which won a gold medal at the vsrld

championships in Copenhagen in 1978 and a bronze the next year in Bled, Yugoslavia. Their coach is Max Canaz, a former Netherlands official who, in the 19705, coached Dutch junior pairs to gold and bronze medals, as well as later coaching Swiss teams to similar medals in the lightweight fours. On the second day, with the snow falling, Nater and Netzler won by Isec from

another Conaz-coached combination, Franz- Wyss and Daniel Hornberger. This pair earlier combined with Phillipe Monteil and Ard Riglirig to win the coxless fours on both days, and the eights. The first three names will be familiar to New Zealand rowers. They were part of the coxless four who trained in Blenheim two summers ago. After their New Zealand experience they returned to Switzerland and, as a coxed four, put up, some good times in Europe. They were originally put down to compete at the Olympics, but a mix-dp occurred and they

were not entered. This led to resignations of senior members of the Swiss Rowing Federation. New men were required to fill the vacancies. One man who gained sudden elevation was Hornberger, the man New Zealanders affectionately nicknamed “Cheese and Onion Burger.” Hornberger was elected chief of rowing competition in Switzerland, and he holds the job of manager and chief selector for Swiss senior A teams. But this year, as he is still rowing competitively, and cannot pick himself, his assistant, Robert Lehner, will do the selecting. {