Women rowers lead N.Z to three bronze medals

Press, 26 September 1988, Page 21

Women rowers lead N.Z to three bronze medals

PA Seoul The new stars of women’s rowing, Nikki Payne and Lynley Hannen, led New Zealand through to a successful three bronze medals in Olympic rowing on Saturday. Three months ago before selection the coxless pair were having to pay out BNZ2OOO a month in Switzerland to hire a boat so they could train. After late selection following the Lucerne regatta in July the New Zealand Rowing Council picked up the tab. Then about a month ago during altitude training at St Moritz things were not going right for Payne and Hannen. They gave themselves a week to get it together otherwise they would not go to the Olympics. Training came right, they came to Seoul, improved with every race and won the bronze. It was followed in the next race with the coxed four also taking the bronze and then to cap the day Eric Verdonk was placed third in the single sculls. The obviously-delighted women, who were the first rowing medal winners for New Zealand, lay much of the credit for their success at the feet of z the former New Zealand and Waikato coach, Harry Mahon, who has guided Payne, aged 22, throughout her international career.

“There is no way we could have got there on our size if his coaching of our technique had not been so good,” Hannen, aged 24, said. The two women, both vegetarians, are far lighter than their heftier Eastern European rivals, Hannen weighing 70 kilograms and Payne only 64kg compared to the 70 to 80kg-plus weight of most other women rowers. Payne just said they owed “everything” to Mr Mahon, now a coach in Switzerland and who under a new development programme for rowing is to be returning to New Zealand for coaching half a year. To take the bronze Payne and Hannen finished behind the dominant Romanians, Rodica Arba and Olga Homeghi and the Bulgarians, Radka Stoyanova and Laika Berberova, who took the silver. , Although there was no real chance of them beating the Romanians, the two New Zealand women v/ere only seven seconds behind compared with 20 seconds back at the Lucerne regatta in July. “They’ve got to retire sometime,” Payne said of their chances of defeating the Romanians. Eric Verdonk, the Puhoi boatbuilder and reserve for the rowing crews, was the real bonus of the day as he was up against the

odds following bouts of diarrhoea and a back injury leading into and during the week’s competition. At one stage after his initial heat which got him a semi-final berth, Verdonk had blacked out from shock because of the pain from the back injury. But expert physiotherapy treatment over the past days, and a break from sculling, had him healthy again and he finished behind the world champion, Thomas Lange, of East Germany and the former fivetimes world champion, Peter Michael Kolbe, of West Germany. “The moon is pretty close,” he said after the race, commenting on how he felt. The coxed four proved no match for the power of the world champion, East Germany, but knowing they had raced the best they could, were content with the bronze. “We were disappointed not to win but thrilled to come in third,” said the stroke, Chris White. “You can run around and be despondent but there is no point in that, especially when you’ve done a bloody good race.” The New Zealanders had gone out fast but East Germany quickly gained the lead which it held to the line.