How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
Germany
Olympic champions in 2012 and 2016, the struggles of the broader German rowing team are epitomised by this foursome, who have struggled to fire over the past few years. Since coming together formally at the beginning of the 2023 season, they’ve failed to win a competitive medal and were even beaten by their development quad at the third World Rowing Cup.
Such a performance will not have impressed the selectors, but this crew are moving forward to the Olympics despite that blip in Poznan. They’re going to need to find a great deal more speed to threaten the medals though. There is no lack of talent on-board; both Tim Ole Naske and Max Appel raced in the quad at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and both are former U23 and junior world champions. The struggle to translate this speed into senior performances is symptomatic of the wider German contingent, who have a group with rich potential but have yet to find the right combination to really create compelling performances.
Great Britain
Featuring Olympic silver medalist Tom Barras, this is another quad that have all the raw materials on-board to fight for medals but are yet to find the gears needed. This Olympiad has been a frustrating one for the British; silver at the 2022 world championships was a superb performance but they failed to build from there, finishing fourth at the 2023 world championships and picking up a selection of minor medals at the second and third World Rowing Cups.
This season, they won silver in Varese behind the Dutch before finishing a disappointing fourth at the European championships, behind the Italians, Swiss and Polish. Lucerne and the second World Rowing Cup was another fourth but with the gap closing on the Italians. With Graeme Thomas joining the crew in 2024 – after spending a season out injured – this boat should be aiming to upset the apple cart in Paris.
Romania
With two changes from the crew that finished fifth at the European championships back in April, Romania are very hard to discount at the business end of international rowing. Although this is not their priority crew for the men, this boat has been supplemented by the addition of two guys (Leontin Nutescu and Andrei Lungu) who raced in the eight at the first 2024 World Rowing Cup and also both raced at the U23 world championships in 2023.
Whether this change is driven by speed or personnel, it is not yet clear. Bogdan Baitoc has jumped into the four whilst Cristian-Vasile Nicoara appears to have lost his Olympic berth entirely.
Switzerland
This is a crew who are picking up a bit of speed at just the right time. After finishing fifth at the 2023 world championships in Belgrade, they’ve clocked up two silver medals on the circuit in 2024, including at the European championships. The second World Rowing Cup – which saw the full field come together for the first time – placed the Swiss in sixth and they’ll be delighted to sneak into the A-final of the Olympics. You have to be in it to win it and although this group are unlikely to take home a medal, Swiss rowing is on the rise and if they can secure a berth in the premier race of the Olympiad, anything can happen.
Most of this boat only started racing at a senior level after the Tokyo Olympics Games, so this is their first go round the crazy carousel of international racing. Dominic-Remo Condrau was a junior world champion in 2017 whilst Scott Baerlocher took silver at the 2019 U23 world championships.
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