Athletes in Poznan: Matthew Trott

New Zealand’s Matthew Trott knows the pain of qualifying a boat for the Olympics and then missing out on the spot at the last minute. But he’s stuck at it and come back from being the Beijing Olympic spare to winning a Rowing World Cup gold in the double. World Rowing talks to Trott about his rowing past and current racing.

World Rowing:  You first rowed internationally at the age of 27. Were you a late-comer rowing?
Matthew Trott: No, I started rowing at high school. My first regatta was in 1995 (aged 15). I then did club rowing. I never thought I had it to be an international rower. Then it dawned on me that I could do it.

I used to row just in the summers, then after I finished university I started to row year round and I made the New Zealand squad. I was 27 when I went to my first World Rowing Championships. I remember it being very nerve-wracking especially the starts and the calling of all the nations.

WR: You qualified the double for the Olympic Games (2007 World Rowing Championships) but then lost your spot when Rob Waddell returned to rowing. You became the spare. How was that?
MT: I stayed at a hotel about a kilometre from the athletes village as I couldn’t stay in the village. But when the rowing started I was at a hotel near the course with the team. I rowed and trained at Shunyi (Olympic regatta course) and raced in the spares race. At Beijing I didn’t feel ostracised at all. The team was like a big family, you know, but it is absolutely gutting to do all of the training as everyone else and not get to race. I remember watching the double come down and thinking, ‘what if’.

After Beijing I was going to give up rowing. I was disheartened. I wanted to get away and thought of going to Australia and working in the mines. But people in the rowing team talked me around to staying.

WR: You said when you got back in the boat with 2007 partner, Nathan Cohen, that it felt good right from the start.
MT: We rowed for 200m together and it was like we never left off.

WR: So who’s the boss in the boat?
MT: I suppose we’re pretty equal, but Nathan is probably a bit more dominant because he’s in stroke. During the race I call the race plan.

WR: You’ve had quite a season so far, winning at the Munich Rowing World Cup and then winning the Royal Henley Regatta.
MT: Henley was the most exciting regatta I’ve ever rowed at. The spectators are right there, close to you for the whole 2,200m. It was 6.20pm and the spectators were all still there. There was so much noise, so much cheering and every 200m or so we’d hear ‘go New Zealand’. The whole history of the event really makes it.

WR: It seems that New Zealand likes to focus on small boats in recent years.
MT: New Zealand’s always been into big boats, then Rob (Waddell) and then the Evers-Swindells set the ball rolling with small boats. We don’t really have the large numbers in rowing and don’t really have the depth for the big boats but it’s always a dream to have an eight and we’re always looking to that. The public still always asks about the eight.

WR: Did you do other sports before rowing?
MT: I did rugby in the winter and originally did cricket but I got bored being in the outfield for three hours. My friends were doing rowing so I gave it a go.

WR: What are your thoughts on rowing in Poznan?
MT: I raced here in the World Cup in 2008. I do like the course although here the course always seems to have a bit of wind.

WR: You’ve raced the heat so far and qualified for the semifinal by finishing second. How is the racing going?
MT: I think everyone was working really hard in the heats. But then you can’t always tell as people don’t want to give too much away.

Trott races in the semifinal today at 14:29 CET.