| PART III 24 February As February closes Niccolo continues on his Australian adventure and shares with us his breakfast secrets as well as describing the toughest training session he’s had to endure this week. World Rowing: How long do you plan to stay in Australia for?
Niccolo Mornati: Before coming here I planned a six month experience. The reason why I have to go back to Italy is to respect my rowing club plans. I belong to Aniene Rowing Club, an outstanding rowing club situated in Rome and together we are following the dream to compete in the next Olympic Games with a club crew. So after the Australian Championships in March, I will spend another short period down-under before moving back. I confess to you that it would be great to come back again, sharing my time between Italy and Australia. WR: How will you work on getting back into the Italian team?
NM: I hear that Antonio Alfine is the new Head Director of the Italian rowing team and Beppe De Capua is in charge of the heavyweight rowers. So I will have to stick to his training program, in accordance with my rowing club. Actually I don’t know the training schedule that they want to provide to the Italian system. I would like to keep on training with the Australian philosophy that has offered me the chance to improve my rowing technique without getting injuries and to develop my physical condition with a lot of cross training. WR: If you could choose your boat to row in which would it be?
NM: In the Italian fastest crew! No, I’m joking, but serious at the same time. I raced, winning four international medals at the World Championships, two in the four and two in the eight but I have never competed in the pair during international events. I’m lacking this experience where you can share responsibilities and through thick and thin you can stick with just your rowing partner.
At this particular moment in my life I need to have fun with my training to help me find the motivation to keep going and learn to listen to my body. I am experiencing this value in particular here in Australia, rowing more in small boats. WR: What has been your toughest training session in the last week?
NM: I guess it was on Monday. We woke up very early to rig the single sculls while the water was still. The session on the water wasn’t longer than 90 min but very tough. We did a lot of power-strokes around 22-24-26 rates per minute with a string around the boat to increase the stroke heaviness. After a short rest we went to the track and field course for some intense running sprints: 10-20-30-40 metres. This could appear to be not so hard, but when I had a look at my cardio it was showing me at 180 heart beats per minute and my breath was getting shorter. The third and last daily session was in the gym where the workout is always a good opportunity to work every muscular weakness. But the toughest moment of the day was when I had to get on my bike again struggling exhausted to reach my house, then straight my bed. WR: What is your favourite after training breakfast?
NM: It’s a meal that every dietitian would reject and tell me off for. The dish is called “full monty” and the name is very fitting. It is made up of two scrambled eggs, two slices of bacon, one sausage, one piece of toasted bread, some baked beans, mushroom and spinach. All this stuff is accompanied by a very Italian cup of cappuccino. To preserve my liver I realised that I could have this breakfast not more than three times a week. So for the remaining days I am happy with milk, cereal and short black (espresso). WR: Has your rowing been affected by the Victorian forest fires?
NM: Fortunately the fires did not affect me or the rowers that I row with in Melbourne. My thoughts are with the poor, defenseless people that have lost their life in that tragedy. We were racing in Nagambie, Victoria, a few kilometers away from the place where the bushfires started. The racing committee decided to cancel the races because the temperature had reached 40 degrees (46 at the peak) and the dry wind was blowing around 60 km/hr at 10am. WR: How did your racing go last weekend?
NM: I raced last weekend in Nagambie, Victoria in the colors of Mercantile Rowing Club of Melbourne.
I competed in the single scull event and finished second behind David Crawshay. I’m very happy about my performance, considering that first of all I was racing against an Olympic Champion and secondly my last singles race was in 2003 during the Italian national Championship. Two hours later we raced together in the double scull, winning the gold medal. Even if I am an Italian rower I can now consider myself as a Victorian champion! PART II 18 February World Rowing: Since you first raced internationally in 1999 you haven’t taken a break from rowing. What keeps you motivated?
Niccolo Mornati: I’ve always considered rowing like the bread of my life, from any point of view.
When I was 19 years old I applied at the Italian University Rowing College situated in Pavia. A scholarship was provided by the Italian Rowing Federation and it was for just ten places for ten talented rowers. Neither easy to get nor easy to keep. It gave me both the opportunity to row at high level (trying to crack into the senior national squad), and the concrete chance to gain a university degree. The requirement to keep the scholarship was to obtain important rowing results during the season and at the same time to get a minimum university exam number.
I was at the Pavia University College for seven years. I presented my university thesis two years ago. I graduated in economics and marketing. During my university course I won nine medals at the Rowing World Cups, four medals at the World Championships and participated twice at the Olympic Games.
When someone is offering you the chance to do what you really want in your life, it would be stupid not to accept. I believe I’m lucky because thanks to rowing I found my life dimension and although recently I was going through a bad sporting patch, I guess this can represent the way to enrich myself, to get stronger in my soul. The real wars in life are not the challenges we race for, but the real life hurdles we experience every day that we can’t avoid.
So the real reason that keeps me so linked to this elite sport for so long is that I believe there is more to do and I really want to be the best I can be and enjoying the strong relationships I made along the way. WR: Did you take a break after Beijing?
NM: It would seem to be weird but immediately after the recent Olympic defeat I spoke with my friend and crew-mate Lorenzo Carboncini. We were feeling like getting revenge instantly.
We’ve promised ourselves that we can’t “leave the game” with this nasty result.
So when I went home I spent a month holidaying on the lake with my family and friends before packing my bags for my Australian adventure.
After five days of being in Melbourne I was already rowing on the Yarra River in the double scull with David Crawshay, the Beijing Olympic Champion, trying to push the recent disappointment to the back of my mind.
So I can tell you that my boat is still sailing, maybe not so fast but I am going to do all my best. WR: Where in the world do you most enjoy rowing?
NM: I love to row in Lucerne, Switzerland on the Rootsee. It’s the picturesque town I have known since I was a kid, watching my brother’s races and because I’m very tied to the rowing course that has given me five medals at five different times.
Still, Lake Como is placed at the top of my personal ranking. You should experience the unique beauty to row more than 10km in a row on perfect, still water when the sunset is painting a natural pink colour over the snow covered peaks. WR: Do you have an athlete that you admire?
NM: My brother Carlo has been representing this athlete for me throughout my career.
I always admired his persevering attitude when approaching training and I’m finding just now here the same skill in David Crawshay. They are very similar, not giants outside but steel inside. I admire the strong dedication that has pushed David through the three years before the 2008 Games.
Even though he did not collect excellent results with his crew-mate Scott Brennan, they kept going to the final Olympic aim. David is brave and his tough perseverance has been rewarded with the most beautiful award for an athlete. I hope to learn a lot from him. WR: If you weren’t rowing what do you think you’d be doing?
NM: I can’t imagine myself in other shoes. I understand I have in my hands a good piece of paper from University, but I’m not yet ready to dress up in a business suit and run to a dark and suffocating office downtown.
I remember being a good soccer goalkeeper with a lot of talent when I was going to school and sometimes I try to think about myself in this way, but with negative results, as I don’t know how I would handle the added benefits to life that come with being a celebrity sports person and not the athlete that I am. My destiny was the struggle that is being an athlete in one of the world’s toughest and most physical sports. I suppose my future was written when I missed the bus to my first soccer practice. PART I 6 February Niccolo Mornati comes from a town in Italy, on the shores of Lake Como, where nearly everyone gives rowing a go. His older brother Carlo led the way, and recently both of them have been in their country’s top men’s four. As World Rowing’s athlete in focus, Niccolo talks about the respect and rivalry with Carlo. He also describes how his Beijing Olympic result led him to Australia where he is currently training. World Rowing: How did you first get involved in rowing?
Niccolo Mornati: I grew up in a small town situated on Lake Como, called Mandello del Lario. During the winter season lots of people, including myself, enjoy skiing and other winter sports - it’s easy having the mountains so close. But with the beginning of spring it’s easy to get into summer sports linked to the lake such as rowing, canoeing, swimming and sailing.
On Lake Como, and in particular in my town, people consider rowing as the national sport and every kid tries it out at least once in their life. So when I was 15 years old, following my friends’ advice and coming from an unlucky experience in track and field, I applied to A.S.C. Moto Guzzi [rowing club]. I was fascinated by this club, with its long sporting history and long list of Olympic Gold Medals. This is the same rowing club my brother [Carlo] was and still is a member of.
WR: Your brother Carlo rows, are other members of your family also involved in rowing?
NM: Yes, but just as supporters. My mum, Romilda grew up in a very poor family. So after the second world war when she was only 10 years old and the economic situation for a lot of families was disastrous, she was obliged to give a hand to help her family, and started to work, therefore she had no spare time to practice any kind of fun activities!
My dad Emilio competed for a few years in the Italian Military water-polo and volleyball teams. At the same time he was a handy tennis player, winning some north Italian tournaments during his younger years, but he was unable to develop his skills and ability as he was required to help support his family by working, which at the time was so much more important than tennis.
WR: How much of an influence in your rowing has Carlo been?
NM: Carlo has been a sporting and life role model for me, my entire life. When I was 13 he won his first World Championship in the coxless four [Indianapolis ’94] at age 22. I remember that I was glued to the television screen to support him and my tension reached such a high level as if I was racing with him. He is my brother first of all, but as I started to row he became my hero, my model to mimic, my teacher to learn from. I was hoping one day to emulate his sporting successes.
Even with such a big age gap between us we have always challenged each other in every activity in our life; from sport to school. Even on peaceful days in the mountains in the winter, we would become breathless on every ski run as we raced each other down the slopes. Every quiet tennis game turned into a serious challenge. One time during a basketball game with some friends of ours we almost came to blows.
I remember when I asked him what his final university degree score was the day before I graduated [in economics] last year (Carlo graduated in law); he didn’t tell me so as not to be compared. So I asked my mum. I won’t tell you the score but I won!
WR: I understand that you are in Australia. What brings you downunder?
NM: After my Olympic disappointment, ten non-stop rowing years at high intensity and a full- time university student for eight years, I decided to take some time just for me. Immediately after the Olympic race in Beijing I met a great Australian friend of mine, Paul Francis, who suggested for me to come here.
I remember how I was so excited about this experience when I left Italy. This is representing a great opportunity to regain my rowing desire and the will to compete at the highest level again. The goal was to start from scratch and move on from a bad patch in my career and the disappointment that was Beijing (11th place in the men’s four).
So I decided to move to Melbourne at the beginning of October and after having spent my first period with a gorgeous female volleyball player I met in Beijing I then moved in with a Mercantile Club mate of mine.
WR: What is your current training regime?
NM: I decided to choose the best rowing club in Melbourne to restart my sporting life and I was lucky because it was the closest shed to my tram stop!
In accordance with coach Bill Tait’s training schedule we studied the best way to keep me fit, breaking the rowing routine that has been killing me for years.
I’m working with a group of high performance athletes, three of them medalists at the last Olympic Games. We usually have a couple of training sessions a day, going on the water early in the morning and doing the other training sessions either in the gym or cross training.
WR: What is your typical day like?
NM: I usually wake up at 5.15am and, after a quick breakfast, I jump on my bike and reach Mercantile around 6am. I have to ride my bike 9km. For Australians that is nothing because their country is an immense territory, but when I’m struggling every morning I think about my Italian rowing club, just 300m from my house!
Usually we have a training session in the small boat (single, pair or double), spending no more than two hours on the water. After a good breakfast, we either row again just for an hour, or we do some cardio exercise like cycling or running. At the end of the morning schedule I go home for lunch and for the typical Italian powernap: one hour laying down on my bed to recharge the batteries.
In Melbourne I go back to the Yarra River three times a week because I’m coaching a crew made up of school girls. I have seized this opportunity to understand rowing from another point of view and to improve my bad English.
Around 5pm I head for the gym for the weights workout or other cross-training activities. I always hope for a soccer game but I’m dreaming in vain.
At 7.30pm I get on my bike again to go home.
WR: Do you have any racing coming up?
NM: The new Australian rowing season began last week. I raced with Alex Sharp in the pair, winning first up. Hopefully it wasn’t our last win! We race again next weekend and also the third week of February.
The first week of March we are going to Tasmania for the Australian National Champs.
WR: If you were in Italy what would your current training be like?
NM: I can’t give you an accurate answer to your question because the Italian rowing federation is going through large changes at present. The old national board has been replaced by a new Italian rowing president with new advisers. They are making a decision about the new rowing head coach, so the Italian rowing clubs and the respective rowers are training with the old training program.
WR: What do you see as differences between rowing in Australia and rowing in Italy?
NM: The whole system around rowing and the approach to this beautiful sport is totally different. A lot of rowers like me are receiving a scholarship from the Italian Olympic Committee and other money prize if we are aiming for a medal at the Olympics or the World Champs. So we consider ourselves full-time athletes during our rowing career. So we can provide a lot of our time to the national rowing system.
The Australian squad is composed of rowers able to enjoy every single thing of their sporting life, because they are linked to rowing by a strong passion and the will to increase the quality of their sport. They understand the great social value of rowing. In Australia more and more people are attracted every day by the genuine pleasure of rowing in a boat with their friends or against them. For me Australian rowing is a novelty, a break in routine.
The Australian rowers are very fit athletes, in such good form, able to ride their bikes like cyclists, and strong in nearly every sport, tough with the gym workout and smooth with the body confidence like a dancer when they are on the water. All of them are doing something different to increase their power and speed, having dissimilar characteristics from the others. The World Rowing team values feedback. |
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