Olympics number six for Chalupa

Makovicka goes to his second Olympics and Chalupa goes into the record books.

Austria gave up their two and only Olympic rowing spots after their lightweight men’s double failed to make the standards set by their National Olympic Committee. The Austrian NOC requires that crews that go to the Olympic Games meet a standard of being in the top nine in the world. A change in the boat line up of their lightweight men’s double and subsequent poor showings this season meant that the double was deselected to race at the Beijing Olympics.

Two Olympic rowing positions therefore opened up.

At the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta Makovicka and Chalupa raced in the men’s pair. They missed out. The top two boats only qualified for Beijing. Makovicka and Chalupa’s missing-out-margin was just 0.57 of a second. This closeness of margins made the International Rowing Federation, FISA, decide that the Czech crew was most worthy of an Olympic spot.

This will bring Chalupa’s Olympic tally to six.

When Chalupa went to his first Olympic Games he rowed for a Czechoslovakia under Soviet authority. When Chalupa went to his second Olympics the “Velvet Revolution” had taken place. When Chalupa went to his third Olympic Games he was now rowing for the Czech Republic. Chalupa went on to race at Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004. Of these five Olympic Games, Chalupa was his country’s single sculler at four of them. Of those his best finish was a silver medal at Barcelona in 1992.

When the young Czech sculler, Ondrej Synek beat Chalupa at the 2005 Czech National Championships in the single, Chalupa looked for another boat to row. In 2007 at the World Rowing Championships it was the double. Finishing outside of the Olympic qualifying positions, Chalupa returned this year for his first attempt at qualifying for the Olympics through the last chance method, the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta.

With Makivicka, Chalupa changed from sculling to sweep rowing and raced in the men’s pair. It was a gamble that ultimately, albeit at the eleventh hour, paid off. Chalupa will go to Beijing as a 40 year old racing at his sixth Olympic Games and ready to take on the best in the world. As Chalupa stated at the Qualification Regatta, he does it because he's having fun.