大象传媒

"I think it's wonderful to see a town really make that effort to celebrate its best athletes", says J眉rgen Gr枚bler, the German-born Team GB chief rowing coach, of the Olympian home-coming celebrations in Henley-on-Thames.

The Beijing Olympic gold-medal winners, who train at the Henley Leander rowing club, are touring the town on Saturday 11 October in an open-topped bus with thousands expected to line the streets to welcome back their heroes.

"For a small town it's a big thing," says the 52-year-old.

Gr枚bler's and Henley's success

Gr枚bler produced gold medal winning crews in the Olympics from 1972 to 1988 as former coach for East Germany.

Gr枚bler congratulating Steve Redgrave in 2000

He moved to Britain in 1991 and coached Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent to Olympic Gold Medals in 1992 and 1996 in the pair, James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Redgrave and Pinsent to the 2000 four, and Steve Williams, Cracknell, Ed Coode and Pinsent to gold in the 2004 four.

He coached the coxless GB four to victory in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

With most of these rowing victors hailing from Leander, why does he think Henley-on-Thames has become such a headquarters for Olympic success?

"The key thing is to have a nice stretch of water and I think that's what we have in Henley," says Gr枚bler.

"The infrastructure is there, we have a big college and it's not so far from London and the Henley Regatta is a rowing mecca in our sport."

He adds: "There's not a lot of other rowing towns in the world that have so much success like Henley."

But there is no room for complacency in Gr枚bler's camp.

He and the team may have enjoyed great success at the Olympics in Athens and Sydney, but it was important to keep the athletes motivated to they achieved at Beijing.

"Everybody has a dream to be an Olympic champion, and if you 'are' an Olympic champion [it's a challenge] to get motivated to do it again," says Gr枚bler.

"You never know for the next four years whether you can do it again, but I think with Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell - they're people who demonstrate that it can be done and that is a big challenge."

J眉rgen Gr枚bler and Stephen Rowbotham

'A big pressure'

Winning six medals out of 14 at Beijing put Team GB rowing at the top of the table. So now the focus is on 2012 to achieve the same level of success.

"Every Olympics is different but no question it's a big pressure," says Gr枚bler, "especially now it's a big opportunity again for youngsters coming in.

"A lot of athletes - as normal - will have finished after the Olympics so there's some space for a big improvement."

And to those who don't view rowing as a difficult sport Gr枚bler says:

"It looks always quite easy but it still takes a long time technically because you're using the whole body.

"The coordination between the legs, the trunk and the arms, then having that wobbly boat, that is a big challenge. It takes time but of course you can learn it. It's a strength endurance sport but also a physical sport.

He adds: "You have to spend a lot of time developing your endurance level and at the same time strength. It's a big challenge."

Training

So how does he train his Olympic athletes?

"In a gym you use a lot of free weights, bench presses, bench pulls - that is part of our training. But we also do a lot of core stability to really develop the small muscles. The balance and the build is very important. A big variety of training you do in the gym.

J眉rgen Gr枚bler and Matthew Pinsent in 2001

"We bring in a lot of elements to make an athletic rower. We do a lot of cross training - running, cycling, skiing and touch rugby, all the variety to make a good athlete.

He adds: "The athlete has to have the passion, he really has to want it. A good coach really tries to development a programme with elements of fun in it.

"When I analyse the athlete, you look at the long-term goal which is 2012 but of course you can't do it in one week or in one year so you're setting goals.

"If you see an athlete's strength isn't good enough you do some more sessions in the gym - I think it's important to integrate the athlete in the programme, so he must feel it's his programme.

"He's not doing it for the coach, he's doing it for himself."

Listen to the full 15-minute interview here: