Denmark
"We have been backing Steve Redgrave now for nearly 4 years, sincethe last Olympics, and it's probably one of the greatest sponsorships anycompany could actualyl undertake, supporting not only guys technicallydedicated to their sport, and what a sport, a sport to be honest that needs alot more encouragement and support in this country, it's amazing, we give thesupport/coverage to sports we don't do so well at, cricket, soccer, but this isone we really excel at, and we really do need a lot more support. This event isa tremendous concept, one of the criticisms of rowing is that it has not beena spectator sport, but this type of event is a fabulous concept. It's doneour comapny a tremendous amount of good, and we're continueing to back Britishassets and I hope others do too." - Jeff Johnson (MD Lombard).
"I think Junior rowing in Britain is pretty good. They did well at the JuniorWorld Championships this year - we've gone through a couple of quiet years, weused to be very strong. When I was a junior we were quite weak, from that timeit got stronger and stronger, used to win Golds every year. We've had a coupleof lean years but it seems to be coming back now. Supersprints make it fun andmust be the way forward." - Steve Redgrave, GB 2-, asked about thehealth of Junior rowing in Britain, following the exhibition Junior match.
"We've long waited for the sport of rowing to have it's share of superstarsand publicity, but now rowing is on the map. Steve Redgrave has helped put itthere, and here are 5 superstars of rowing realyl putting the sport where itbelongs in the forefront of the British and World media" - Martin Cross.
"This is quite exciting, there's no time to catch up if you drop behind. We'resupposed to be resting at the moment, we get 3 weeks off after the World's andwe're 2 weeks into that, so I trained yesterday and the day before. I can feela bit of stiffness coming on now actually, in my back. I had a bad winter withmy back, and it's still a little bit sore. The Worlds was a littledisappointing for me, but you know, when you've missed a load of training..."- Greg Searle, GB 1x.
"Ah, that looked like hard work out there! Better to peer on with a drink. Itwas exciting. You don't realise quite how quickly it goes and how much it allhangs in the balance - especially in the relay, one mistake decides the outcome of 3 whole races. Initially I thought this looked quite fun, but then,it's a lot of work." - Tim Foster.
"I liked the practice [referring to the replayed relay leg of the heat]. We caught crabs a bit at the end, gave it away a bit"- Miriam Batten, GB 2x.
"I was happy with the delay [before re-racing the relay], it gave us a rest.Just as well the Dutch didn't know about that, as they'd know they were fresh,and what they don't know won't hurt" - Gillian Lindsay, GB 2x.
"Yeah, I need practice at air-punching [he nearly fell in]. I'm lookingforward to racing the Dutch." - James Cracknell, GB 2-.
"Things got confusing with the communications breakdown. There was a problemwith the starting pistol too, going click intead of bang, so we had to go backto using the flag. It was difficult to balance racing with organising it, it[the problems] got a little bit annoying" - Steve Redgrave, GB 2-, onthe pressures of wearing two different hats on the day.
"I've never done this before, it's a bit of an eye-opener, and I think I mustbe mad. I won't ever be doing it again." - Paul Palmer, British Olympicswimmer, before his race with Cracknell and Redgrave.
"Don't swim in front of us" - James Cracknell, GB 2-, with advice forPaul Palmer.
"We're Gold medallists and he's only Silver" - Steve Redgrave, GB 2-,talking before the final race against Palmer.
"The plan for the final was for Greg to let the Dutchman win the sculls, thedouble to hold or narrow the gap, and leave James and I to pull it out. No,seriously, it was very tough. We lost it a bit in the last 5 strokes"- Steve Redgrave, GB 2-, on the close finish in the final.
"I think I'll grab the end of their boat and just swim for it at the end"- Paul Palmer, letting slip alternative race tactics.
"I enjoyed it more than I expected. It was a new experience to have the restof the team relying on me like that" - Greg Searle, GB 1x.
"I never saw the finsih, so I just kept going. I was breathing to the left, andthey were on my right, so I wasn't aware of them at all. There was no marker atthe finish so I hadn't a clue where I was." - Paul Palmer after winningthe race against Redgrave and Cracknell by 8s.