Rebecca Romero

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Comments

  • yorkshireraw
    yorkshireraw Posts: 1,632
    yes, cycling is a great in that it can serve many different purposes - social, fitness, competitive etc. However in this case we are talking about the olympics, and the purpose is 'Faster, Higher, Stronger'. If that doesn't float your boat, fair enough, but don't knock someone just because that is why they do it.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908
    YorkshireRaw wrote:
    yes, cycling is a great in that it can serve many different purposes - social, fitness, competitive etc. However in this case we are talking about the olympics, and the purpose is 'Faster, Higher, Stronger'. If that doesn't float your boat, fair enough, but don't knock someone just because that is why they do it.

    humour
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • 007stucumber
    007stucumber Posts: 671
    I think she's superb.

    The flak she gets is similar to that ascribed all successful female GB athletes, as if determination is somehow contrary to femininity. She is driven in the same way as Nicole Cooke, and has overcome her self-doubt in the same way that Queen Vic has.

    All athletes at her level have similar physiological attributes. What she undoubtedly took from rowing was a perverse ability to hurt herself, which, combined with her determination, landed her gold. I think it will now be interesting to see whether her determination remains ...

    I rather hope that BC encourages other rowers (male and female) to make the transition!

    Still think that Emma Pooley's silver was the cycling performance of the Games so far, though.
  • heavymental
    heavymental Posts: 2,091
    Thats it for the Velodrome isn''t it? I think that Cooke winning gold and Shanaze (fingers firmly crossed) winning gold, will be a nice set of bookends to the GB cycling team effort this year. Track is all well and good but nice to have some success in events that can be played out on roads and dirt tracks by the average kid in the street.
  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    YorkshireRaw wrote:
    Yes Pendleton & Cook may come across a bit better on TV, but I'm sure they are just as driven and hard-edged when needed. Romero will maybe lighten up a bit now, don't forget her rise in Cycling has been a whirlwind.

    Chris Hoy comes across on TV and from what I hear in person as the nicest man on the planet. When Shane Sutton (the head coach at British Cycling) is asked what makes Chris so good in Heroes, Villains and Velodromes, he says Chris has a bit of the "c word" about him when it comes to training and winning.

    I'm sure it's the same for Nicole Cooke and Vicky Pendleton. They may not let it bubble to the surface all the time, but I'm sure that hard edged will-to-win is just as strong in them as it is in Romero and Hoy.
  • heavymental
    heavymental Posts: 2,091
    Its easy to see who will become tv regulars and who won't isn't it. I think Adlington is the epitomy of the girl next door/local girl come good whereas Romero is a driven athlete with only winning on her mind. Scarily comitted and bent on getting gold which we retiring brits are a bit intimidated by. Luckily, she wasn't our only cycling gold medallist so the media can turn to Pendleton or, if they require a more urban edge, Shanaze Reade, when doing a feature on the games. Its very transparent isn't it. I bet that fluffy haired rower from the coxless fours will be on the tv first out of that crew as he's a memorable looking fella.
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    mididoctors wrote:
    speed skating is technically a bit difficult to just pick up... compared to xc sking but the distance and timed efforts of skating are more in tune with rowing and track cycling..
    Yes, although with some dedication and talent speed skating can be learned quickly, and xc skiing is quite technical as well.
    There are loads of people combining speed skating with cycling. Jan Bos (Theo Bos's brother) is a speed skating world champion and was in the Dutch track team in Athens.
  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    FJS wrote:
    There are loads of people combining speed skating with cycling. Jan Bos (Theo Bos's brother) is a speed skating world champion and was in the Dutch track team in Athens.
    In Graeme Obree's autobiography he talks about going speed skating. Sounds like he wasn't too bad at it as well.
  • toshmund
    toshmund Posts: 390
    She cannot win can she? So, she is focused in her sport. Wins - "ooh she is all fearsome..." What do you want? Somekind of personality like a Tim Henman perhaps. Above average ability compared to most, who seems a terribly nice chap - who every year, you can root for/sit on a hill and shout for, but not feel too hurt/surprised when it all goes awry.
  • yorkshireraw
    yorkshireraw Posts: 1,632
    Toshmund wrote:
    She cannot win can she? So, she is focused in her sport. Wins - "ooh she is all fearsome..." What do you want? Somekind of personality like a Tim Henman perhaps. Above average ability compared to most, who seems a terribly nice chap - who every year, you can root for/sit on a hill and shout for, but not feel too hurt/surprised when it all goes awry.

    Quite right - looking at the general state of British tennis they could do with few Romero types!
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    No is saying "oh, she's so awful, I wish she came fourth", just that some of us are surprised by her talk of "demons" and the extent to which second would have been a disaster. It's refreshingly dedicated but it does border the extreme, Hoy seems a bit more "adjusted" at times. For me, Shanaze Reade said she wants gold but that if she won bronze knowing she had done all she could, then she would be happy with that:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNK7w6ulMQ (1m04s)

    Anyway, chapeau to Romero.
  • Michuel
    Michuel Posts: 269
    Kléber wrote:
    No is saying "oh, she's so awful, I wish she came fourth", just that some of us are surprised by her talk of "demons" . Anyway, chapeau to Romero.

    Competitive athletes aren't as fluent as the rest of us when they're preparing for or finishing races. We've got time to develop arguments following logic. They're focussed on the event and winning and anything else is a diversion. Language is a layer up from instinct. There’s a lot of blood circulating in their head. So Ohuruoga (graduate in Linguistics) after finishing when asked how she felt said “I don’t know..”, Pendleton (graduate in Sports Science”) said “I think Chris Hoy is wonderful.” So Romero (graduate in Sports Science,English) talks about “demons”.

    What is a “demon”? Well for me it’s suffering on a bike. I get a lot of pain from it and thus don’t do it. The original posting comment. was : “Rowers have to be so driven by winning , because there is no financial reward for most of them”. Andy Hodge said he wasn’t aware of wherever the finish was in the last 250 metres. He’d never suffered so much in his life. If you watch crews at end of a race such as O/C Boat Race they’re completely exhausted. The same with Hutchinson or Boardman at the end of an Hour Record. RadioFiveLive’s Boardman/Brotherton said TdF riders at end of mountain stage recover after 15minutes but these track riders take much longer. A friend of mine spoke to Jason Queally after a kilometre ride and found him totally incapable of speaking.

    Romero is significant because sh crossed over sports at the very top level and succeeded. I think one year after being rowing world champion 2005 she was national TT champion 2006. This must point to the future where sports who are weak in a particular area can fill it from other sports. This must be very significant for 2012 Olympics and must be thanks to Brailsford.

    The original posting asked for other rowers who crossed over and many were listed in other postings. In addition there is Xavier Dorfman 2000 OlympicGold and Silver in quadruple sculls I think who in 2002 raced the whole SportCommunication sportives usually finishing in first five, but maybe 2nd in Marmotte and won the whole season long trophy. In the 2002 Etape there were 6 or 8 French Olympic rowers many finishing in top 20 alongside him in Etape. It was to be a break from their Olympic training. The competitive sportive 2007 “Legs of Steel” in the Surrey Hills had fastest time by a Nottingham University ex-rower with I think a season’s preparation. Some rowing clubs have cycle sections attached to them such as ThamesTrademen and I think Kingston RowingClub. There are are lots of rowers in cycling clubs in the Surrey, Thames areas. Other rowers use running in their preparation for rowing competition also.

    As regards reacting to a person's personality rather than achievement it's useful to quote this weeks CW on Peter Coe's obituary (trainer/father of SC) : "we should be proud not just of our cyclists but of the clever occasionally eccentric often difficult people..who refuse to accept the old methods and constantly thirst for knowledge and understanding..we salute you Peter Coe, Peter Keen, Chris Boardman and the greatest cycling maverick of them all Graeme Obree".
  • toshmund
    toshmund Posts: 390
    Think some people are just emphasising it because she is a woman. Had none of this after James Cracknell/Steve Redgrave/Matthew Pinsett, or even Kelly Holmes. People need different things to focus them. Should think Romero is in the same kind of mindset as say, a Alex Ferguson. Analytical, clear about how to get there and if need be, a bit brutal about it. Find it more surprising she actually did a "pairs" sport - must be a lot of pressure on the other person to step up to the same mark.
    Should think she will be able to ask for £1000's for giving the motivational speeches, on the back of this. Southampton tried Clive Woodward - maybe the England national football squad could have Cracknell and Romero as "the good guys" and Brian Moore as "the bad guy". Be quite a few coming out for the 2nd half in bandages.
  • ms_tree
    ms_tree Posts: 1,405
    Of course it's not because she's a woman! Although as one myself I do wonder why she did that photoshoot. I put my remark about counselling because I feel that someone who says if she hadn't won then she'd be lying dead somewhere needs help! We all, I am sure, have demons that we do our best to conquer each day.
    'Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.'
    Neil Gaiman
  • toshmund
    toshmund Posts: 390
    Think all competitive people put themselves under pressure/through stress. Turning it into a positive, fires them up and is what gives them their edge. Lesser competitive people would just fold up/or settle for their lot. Bit like the mindgames that Ferguson played on Keegan, which led to him losing the plot in the now famous after match interview. Ferguson must have known he had the premiership, soon as he saw that interview.

    The Australian woman who had the bad crash last year (cannot remember her name) she has lost it. Looked very uncomfortable at times.

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