STANDING by the edge of Lake Dorney in 2012, Constantine Louloudis was fiddling with the medal around his neck and wondering which emotion to confront first. Fresh-faced, Eton and Oxford, he had just stroked the GB eight to an Olympic bronze medal, not bad for a 20-year-old. But he was disappointed.
Before the final, the GB crew had committed to attack in a bid to win gold. They had surprised the German eight with the depth of their commitment and led through 1500m. But the tank ran dry. First, the Germans edged past, then the Canadians. The GB crew hung on for bronze.
“When I watch that race back, it makes me tingle,” says Louloudis. “I remember Phelan [Hill, the cox] calling us ahead at 1250m, the rest is a blur. I thought we’d come fourth. When I realised we’d got a medal, it was a relief.” The rivalry with the Germans has intensified, except that at the world championships which begin today on Lake Aiguebelette in the French Alps the tables will be reversed. The British crew are the world champions and the Germans are fighting to regain their crown.
With the top five boats qualifying for the Olympics, Jurgen Grobler, the German-born head coach of the GB men’s squad, has left nothing to chance. He has disbanded the dominant GB four from last season and stacked his eight with his best oarsmen. The risk is that defeat for the superstar crew will swing the psychological pendulum back the way of the Germans in the lead-up to Rio, but a duel between two crack eights promises to bring the championships to a thundering close. Time perhaps for a flicker of real animosity, maybe even some trash-talking? Louloudis recoils at the thought.
“The Germans are nice, magnanimous, guys and we know them well,” he says. “But there’s no question that if we are both on our game it will be us v them. Nobody else should make an impact.”
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Louloudis stroked one of the best Eton crews of recent vintage before graduating to the stroke seat of a victorious Oxford blue boat. This summer, in between winning the Boat Race and stepping up his training in time for his return to the GB squad, he gained a first in classics. He does not have the physique of a behemoth or an eight-litre lung capacity, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in technique and he does not countenance defeat or failure.
It says much for Louloudis’s leadership quality that as a newcomer to the squad he was promoted to stroke in the GB eight in 2012 and that, after a brief spell at the back end of the boat, a smack on the wrist for taking a week off after his Oxbridge exams, he was parachuted back into the stroke seat for these world championships.
“Most rowers have their own interests at heart and, hopefully, they feel we will be quicker with me there,” he says. “As a stroke, you don’t have to be the strongest guy in the boat, it’s about how much you can get out of the seven guys behind you. If you can row long and rhythmically, everyone follows that pattern. This must be the fastest boat I’ve rowed in. When the guys put the power down, the bows are lifted out of the water.”
Much interest will focus on Katherine Grainger in her 12th world championships and her first since returning after a two-year absence from the sport. Grainger’s partnership with Vicky Thornley in the double sculls has yet to click, but few would bet against her adding a seventh world title to her collection.
Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have dominated the women’s pair, while Charlotte Taylor and Olympic champion Kat Copeland expect to crown a promising debut season with gold.
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On the men’s side, the quad missed out on gold by a hundredth of a second at the last world championships.