The Cream of the Cream – World Rowing Award Winners 2016
Every year, the World Rowing Federation, FISA, holds an award ceremony to recognize the outstanding performances of the past year, in the world of rowing. Competitors in the 2016 Rio Olympics will play a big part in the celebration. Brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic of Croatia have been named the Male Crew of the Year. Magdalena Fuarczyk-Kozlopwska and Natalia Madaj from Poland have been named as the Female Crew of the Year. Rachel Morris, a single sculler of Great Britain wins Para Crew of the Year. South Africa’s Roger Barrow is named as World Rowing Coach of the Year. And Australia’s Reinhold Batschi is being honoured with the Distinguished Services to International Rowing award.
2016 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year
Magdalena Fuarczyk-Kozlopwska and Natalia Madaj from Poland have become superstars in the world of international rowing. 2016 has been their fourth season together and they became Rio 2016 Olympic Champions in the women’s double sculls. This was Poland’s first gold medal in women’s rowing and followed on from two European Rowing Championship titles and World Rowing Cup wins.
2016 World Rowing Male Crew of the Year
Sinkovic brothers, Martin and Valent, have already achieved success winning the men’s quadruple sculls but for a couple of years now they have also been enjoying an unbroken winning streak and entered the history books as the first double ever to finish in under six minutes. They were able to win back to back World Championship titles with the icing on the cake being a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. This Croatian duo have plenty of admirers because of their synchronous technique.
2016 Para Crew of the Year
Rachel Morris from Great Britain won a gold at the Rio 2016 Paralympics after making a successful transition from para-cycling to para-rowing. It has only taken her three years to reach this pinnacle and along the way she has won silver at the 2015 World Rowing Championship along with becoming the World Best Time holder in the single. She is well-know for her strength of will and dedication and inspires a range of athletes.
2016 World Rowing Coach of the Year
Roger Barrow is well known in South Africa for spearheading the development of the sport. The culmination of his efforts was the first-ever Olympic gold medal in rowing for the whole of Africa. The winners of the gold in the lightweight men’s four at the London Olympics came from a small pool of athletes. Since then Barrow has increased the squad in spite of funding limitations, thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of the athletes. A squad of five boats were taken to Rio, with all crews making the A-final and the men’s pair winning a silver.
2016 Distinguished Service to International Rowing
Reinhold Batschi first began as a rower representing Romania, at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. After moving to Europe, he initially coached in Germany and then moved to Australia. While there he was the head coach of every Australian rowing team between the years of 1984 and 2000. During this time he helped Australia win 16 Olympic rowing medals. He also designed an innovative coaching education system as well as standardising rowing techniques across the country. His position has also been used to help developing rowing nations in Oceania and around the world.