Youth Olympic names announced
The GB rowers who are set to take part in the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival from January 13 – 18 have been announced by the British Olympic Association.
1,600 athletes from 25 nations will take part in the festival, which is organised biennially in Sydney by the Australian Olympic Committee under IOC patronage. The event uses many of the 2000 Olympic Games venues and is designed as a legacy from those Games.
Germany, France, Canada, the USA, China, Greece, Hungary and New Zealand are amongst the other strong rowing nations likely to take part.
The GB line-up includes 2007 world junior men’s four gold medallists Matt Rossiter, George Nash and Kieren Emery.
It also features Katherine Copeland who won the Coupe de la Jeunesse single scull title this year. And there are some rowers who participated in last year’s world junior championships in Linz, Austria: Olivia Oakes and Rachel Gamble-Flint (women’s double, finalists); Jenny Arnold, Olivia Carnegie-Brown and Jo Fitzsimmons (women’s four, bronze medallists); Matt Tarrant and Max Gander (men’s coxed four, silver medallists) and Emery once more (men’s four, finalist).
Rossiter and Nash were part of the BOA-organised British Olympic Ambition project in Beijing earlier this year and saw, at first hand, what it was like to take part in an event as big as the Olympic Games. John Preston, meanwhile, was seventh in the men’s pair at the 2008 world U23 championships and Lottie Howard-Merrill was in the 2006 world junior championships bronze medal-winning women’s four.
"Events like the Youth Festival are perfect competition opportunities for our young rowers. It’s a chance to expose them to multi-sport competition as part of the pathway towards the Olympic Games", said GB Rowing’s Performance Director David Tanner.
The format of the competition in Sydney dictates that all rowers shall take part in three events. One event is the eight and the other two can be chosen from the single scull, double scull, pair or four. Final line-ups in each boat will be available in due course.
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SQUAD LIST
MEN
Kieren Emery (Tyne RC/01.06.90)
Matt Tarrant (OBUBC/11.07.90)
Matt Rossiter (Abingdon School/25.09.89)
Will Satch (Leander Club/09.06.89)
George Nash (CUBC/02.10.89)
Jonny Walton (Leicester RC/06.10.90)
Jono Clegg (Leander Club/14.07.89)
Josh Butler (London Rowing Club/11.03.89)
John Preston (Reading Uni BC/16.04.89)
Max Gander (Abingdon School/26.01.90) – cox
WOMEN
Jenny Arnold (Reading Uni BC/06.02.90)
Lottie Howard-Merill (Headington School BC/15.11.89)
Jo Fitzsimons (St Neots RC/16.06.90)
Olivia Carnegie-Brown (Reading RC/28.03.91)
Olivia Oakes (Uni of London Women’s BC/21.04.90)
Rachel Gamble-Flint (Yarm School BC/13.09.91)
Sophie Vellacott (Durham Uni BC/13.03.89)
Katherine Copeland (Yarm School BC/01.12.90)
Lottie Burgess (Reading Uni BC/25.06.90)
Lilly van den Broecke – cox (Headington School BC/08.01.92)
STAFF
Richard Boulton – Team manager
Eira Parry, Wade Hall-Craggs, Nick Strange, Alex Henshorwood – coaches
Ryan Bathurst – Physio
