ONE MOE GOLD IS IN MY DREAMS AGAIN
Eighteen months of stormy waters for Redgrave’s heir apparent as GB’s rowers deal with Olympic anguish
ON Friday, March 20, Boris Johnson announced that pubs, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres were to close as the coronavirus crisis took hold. The next day, the British rowing squad was called into its base at Caversham, in Berkshire. They arrived expecting to collect a rowing machine each for home training. But there was something else.
They were told there was a surprise meeting. No one knew how long the lockdown was going to last. Sport was shutting down. The athletes were told that selection for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo had been brought forward from May. They were going to discover now whether they were in or out. They sat and listened as the coaches analysed each of their performances and told them whether they had made it or not.
They left in a state of shock at the suddenness of it all. Some dreams were intact. Some had been shattered. Some were heady with excitement about the prospect of becoming an Olympian for the first time. Others thought it might be time for them to retire.
Three days later, the Tokyo Olympics were postponed until the summer of 2021. The rowers all received an email. The selection was null and void. Those who were out were back in. Those who were in were out. Emotions swirled. In a world without sport, everything was to play for.
MOE SBIHI smiles a wry smile when he thinks about his own feelings. He will not say whether he was in or out, although it is a general assumption that he would have been on the plane to Japan. He is one of the giants of the Olympic team, a bronze medallist from London 2012 and a gold medallist in Britain’s blue riband boat, the coxless four, from Rio 2016. He was given an MBE in 2017. He is the heir to Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Andy Hodge but it has not been an easy year.
On a cold winter’s day at Caversham six weeks ago, he finished a session on the rowing lake and sat in a room in the boathouse, tracing the troubled journey from that golden moment on the Rio lagoon under the gaze of the statue of Christ the Redeemer when he lived up to all the hype and the awe that his indoor performances, in particular, had inspired.
Seven months before Rio, Sbihi had beaten Pinsent’s record for the 2km open men’s ergo at the British Rowing Indoor Championships.
The record had stood for 11 years but Sbihi’s time of 5mins 41.8secs shaved half a second off the mark set by the four-time gold medallist and cemented his place in the coxless four for Brazil with Alex Gregory, George Nash and Constantine Louloudis.
When he returned from Rio, Sbihi’s rocket trajectory began to flatten. Those astonishing numbers on the ergo — an indoor rowing machine — dipped. The certainty that Sbihi would lead British men’s rowing into the Tokyo Olympics seemed as if it were ebbing away.
‘I kind of set the standard from 2014 onwards,’ said Sbihi in t he boathouse at Caversham. ‘I was the leading numbers man and, in the Olympic year, I started to break records.
‘I thought I’d have a dip in the first year after Rio. I’d had a fantastic holiday, I’d just got engaged, started the season late.
‘But then I really wanted to kick on in 2018 and 2019. I don’t know if I put myself under too much pressure. It was only by accident that I looked at something in the summer of 2019 and saw my one-off test numbers weren’t there.
‘I found myself questioning my technique, my physiology, my approach, doing different things, trying to be relaxed about it, trying to be aggressive about it, trying to be angry. I went so far away from being myself. Then you hit this year and want it to be perfect. I had 18 months of rollercoasters.’ Sbihi had a tough early winter, be set by injuries and illness, and even though he was healthy and back with the team by December last year, it was not until January 2 that he was able to return to the water. After that he was doing some land-based training so, when he got back on the water again on January 23, he felt at a disadvantage. ‘ I’ve had to learn how to row again,’ he continued. ‘Everybody else I’ve been competing against has been rowing for the last four months.
‘We have somebody in the team who is incredibly gifted physiologically and it almost seems as if he is effortlessly completing the ergos. It’s a bit annoying. I can imagine that’s what everybody felt about me four years ago.
‘ It’s healthy competition and competition breeds competition. Is he ahead of me? Yes and no. Through this season, he has beaten me once. Over the last 12 months, he has beaten me more than I have beaten him but, over the last four or five months, I feel as if I’m starting to regain control.
‘For somebody like me — although I have tried really hard not to be — I have become slightly dependent on my rowing machine scores. While I am an OK rower out on the water, my bread and butter is the numbers element. As much as I
want to be the silk or the technical master, I would have to lose a hell of a lot of weight and learn how to row properly. I’m not gifted with both elements. Power is my thing.
‘We’re getting closer and closer to the Olympics and I feel like I’m getting closer to where I was. I couldn’ t be in better shape physically. The only thing I need to catch up on now is water time. Knowing where my records are, I’m actually really happy with where I am right now.’
Five weeks after that conversation, Sbihi and his rowing partner Ollie Wynne-Griffith came second in the men’s pairs A final behind Rory Gibbs and Matt Rossiter in the GB Olympic Trials at Caversham. It may or may not have been enough to earn him a place in his favoured boat, the coxless four, at Tokyo 2020.
It was a creditable performance, though. He felt it showed he was getting even closer to being back to his best. One week later, the team was announced in that surprise meeting. Then the Olympics were postponed.
Now, he is sitting in a room at his home in Berkshire, staring into his computer screen, talking about what lies ahead. He was 32 last month and he knows that some of his team-mates have decided they do not want to extend their rowing careers for another year.
He understands how complex the emotions must be for many. He understands, too, how tough psychologically it might be for some of the younger rowers to have been told they had been selected for Tokyo and then for that selection to be rescinded.
‘At that stage, a team had to be selected and we had to work on a model that the Games were going to take place in the summer but it must have been hard for some of the younger boys,’ says Sbihi.
‘You always dream that when you are selected it will be the best single feeling of elation you ever have, especially when you have never been to the Olympics before and you live and breathe wanting to go to one.
‘It helped that I have a bit more experience. I’ve competed at two Olympics and I know that you are not actually selected until you race that first race. You can be announced in the team at the end of May and you do two months of training camp and people have lost their place in that period.
‘At the last Olympics, Graeme Thomas, one of our leading athletes, fell ill and was sent home two days before the Olympic Games started. Rowing is very good at having a team environment. It’s very bustling at Caversham. Being sent home with an ergo can be very lonely and tough.’
Sbihi admits to enjoying lockdown, however. He works out on the rowing machine in his garden during the day and locks it away in his shed at night.
He is setting his training sessions to his favourite music. He mentions Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West and Eminem. ‘I’m 30 to 40 albums in now,’ he says, grinning.
There was never a chance of him deciding to step away from the challenge because of the Games’ postponement, he says. He spoke to his wife about it and he knew what he wanted to do. One more year of training might work to his advantage anyway. He was slightly behind where he wanted to be. Now, the Tokyo Olympics could come right on time.
‘Postponement just means the target is kicked down the road,’ he says. ‘My chief coach called me and said: “Do I have you for one more year?” and I was very positive about it. It could work to my advantage. That’s the way I’m looking at it.
‘I had a turbulent winter with injuries and illnesses and, if you don’t get a personal best or come first, you always have things you want to improve on and work on.
‘I missed a chunk of rowing time this season and what happened in the Olympic trials was that my skill factor wasn’t there for rowing in tough conditions, being able to row a pair consistently every day. It was getting better and better but, unless you win, nothing is perfect.
‘Now I have 12 months extra to get some more t hings ri ght, stay injury free hopefully. Now I have the opportunity to do it again. Now I have the opportunity to see what I can do with a good block of training underneath my belt. So it’s a blessing in disguise.
‘ It’s 12 months extra doing something I love.’
Now I have 12 months to get things right, so it’s a blessing in disguise...