Sports awards 2008: Jürgen Grobler, the coach who has guided rowing crews to gold at eight Olympics | Sport | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close Few people can lay claim to such an abundance of success as Jürgen Grobler. Even Sir Steve Redgrave does not come close; the record five gold medals he won at successive Olympics are puny compared to Grobler's haul. Since he moved to Britain from the former East Germany in 1991, Grobler has been the architect of at least one gold medal for GB Rowing at five successive Olympics (it's worth remembering that between 1948 and 1984 Britain did not win a single gold). Following a pulsating race by the men's four in Beijing, his total is nine golds and two bronzes in nine Games since 1972. How does Grobler turn out big-race winners so relentlessly? On a gin-clear autumn morning, we meet in his office beside the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, the full Olympic regatta course sculpted from gravel pits in Caversham just outside Reading.

It is here that he has already started to scheme Britain's campaign for 2012 - and it was from here that he sent forth the heavyweight crews who, in addition to the gold, won silver and bronze in Beijing. Immediately after the Games, he and his wife, Heidi, climbed into the BMW that the four who secured Redgrave's fifth gold in Sydney presented to him, and headed out from their Henley home Chuck Berry-style - 'no particular place to go'. Their unplanned journey lasted three weeks, covered 4,000 miles and took them through France, Spain and Portugal. It told us something, too: that the meticulous coach does not, as many suspected, spend his downtime tidying his garden shed. Yes, Grobler has a freewheeling side and an open mind. He brings them to the read-outs from all those indoor sessions that transport his young athletes to the brink of extinction, while revealing the statistical secrets of their physiology. The figures mean only so much, he says. What really engages him is the human side of rowing. 'It's the athletes' free will that they come here to row,' he says. 'Nobody says they have to do it.

And when they come in each day the hard work they have to put in is not designed to make them say, "Yeah, great, I can train this morning." Rowing is an endurance sport, it's very tough, and it can also be very boring going up and down the course at a low rate, stroke by stroke. You can do it mechanically or - which is what I want - you can be into it and try to feel everything. 'After regattas they look in your eyes: "Why didn't I get a medal? I did the same training as the guys who did win medals,"' he says. 'But training is more than this, training is getting into everything, physically and mentally. Reaching targets is not the only thing that counts - you have to have that feeling as well. The only thing I absolutely hate is when someone gives up, stops.' This is the cue for a Redgrave story. 'Steve was doing a test after he had developed diabetes and he looked absolutely awful with about two minutes of a five-kilometre test to go. He could have justified giving up, he had already won four Olympic golds, no one would have said he was weak.

I wanted to say stop, but I knew if I had done he would have killed me. His result wasn't that good, but I had huge respect for what he did - it was as good as a good result.' This sort of effort, generated by the human spirit, matters when it comes to what Grobler believes is the most important element of being a successful member of a successful crew: how you perform on the last stroke. 'You have to be totally mentally committed; if you're coming to 19.999 kilometres in a 20-kilometre row, the last metre, how you do that, that's what counts.' Grobler first guided East German rowers to a bronze in 1972, and then golds at each Games from 1976-1988, apart from the 1984 Olympics which were boycotted by the Warsaw Pact countries. The Henley-based Leander club invited him to the UK in 1991 and a year later, having been appointed chief coach of Britain's men, he coached Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent to gold in the coxless pair at the Barcelona Games. His golden touch has stayed with him ever since.

He is fired up by the prospect of continuing the success in 2012 (when he will be 66) even to the point of already feeling a little pressure, he says, with the Games being held at home. What, though, are the reasons to be optimistic that Britain's rowers can stay ahead? 'We have a good training system that produces motivated athletes who trust me and the rest of the coaches. The highway has been set and people believe in that. 'Also there's a big desire in the country that I'm sure the rowers will pick up on. There's an identification now with what we're doing. You go to the train station or airport and someone taps on your shoulder and says, "Well done."' If there are fresh triumphs to savour when he and Heidi set off on holiday after the London Games, the car they leave in is likely to be 12 years old. 'I can't sell it - 2000 is such an outstanding memory,' he says, remembering the crew who gave it to him. Like his rowers, the great coach is only human.

Jurgen Grobler - Bio, Facts, Family | Famous Birthdays Famous Birthdays Leo ABOUT Coach of the East Germany and Great Britain Olympic rowing teams in 11 games from 1972 to 2012. BEFORE FAME He was born in Madgeburg and later moved to Great Britain in 1991. TRIVIA He was the winner of the 2000 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award. FAMILY LIFE He was born in Magdeburg, Germany. ASSOCIATED WITH Jurgen Grobler says Great Britain's rowing team will be strongest for 20 years | Daily Mail Online comments Head coach Jurgen Grobler claims Britain are on course to send their strongest team to the Olympics in 20 years after the country's finest rowers impressed on the final day of trials at Eton Dorney. With less than four months to go to London 2012, hopes are high that Britain will be able to exceed their haul of six medals that they achieved in Beijing four years ago.

The hugely competitive battle for selection climbed to another level today as the country's best rowers looked to impress Grobler with a good performance on the same course where the Olympic event will take place in July and August. Going well: Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Peter Reed in action at Eton Dorney Olympic champions Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Pete Reed won the men's pairs with an impressive time of six minutes and 26 seconds on a calm day at the Buckinghamshire course while there were also convincing wins for Alan Campbell, Katherine Grainger and Adam Freeman-Pask. That has left Grobler, who has coached gold medalists at every Olympics since 1972, brimming with confidence. 'I am very proud of the guys,' said the German, who started coaching Team GB in 1992. In good shape: Alan Campbell during the Heats at Eton Dorney 'They are wonderful guys. It's the best group I can remember in the years I have been in Britain. 'The top end looks quite solid. The world champions from last year are there or thereabouts this year again.

Everybody will try to come and beat us.' Pleased with what he has seen: Team GB rowing coach Jurgen Grobler said he was proud of his team World Under-23 champions Constantine Louloudis and George Nash also impressed in the men's pair, finishing third ahead of experienced Olympians Richard Egrington and Tom James. 'Louloudis and Nash have split the whole thing open. We can see there is strong competition there,' Grobler added. Grobler will name his team for the remaining three World Cup regattas on April 4 and it is expected that the line-up will largely remain the same for the Olympics. The German's main dilemma is whether to place Triggs-Hodge and Reed back in to the four-man boat or keep them as a pair. The duo have had a miserable winless run against the all-conquering New Zealand pair Eric Murray and Hamish Bond and are thought to be keen on returning to the fours, where they won gold in Beijing. 'If everything changes we have to change and improve,' Triggs-Hodge said. 'Talk about it has been going on for a while but my job is really simple - whatever boat I'm put in, I have to make it go fast.

'That's what I love doing. Today's win is a real plus and I am in a very happy mood.' Grainger, who lost her national crown to Anna Watkins last year, gained revenge on her sculls partner by winning the women's singles with a time of seven minutes and 31 seconds. Helen Glover and Heather Stanning clinched victory in the women's pair and Kat Copeland won the lightweight singles. Jurgen Grobler - Bio, Family, Facts, Age: 70 | Hot Birthdays Jurgen Grobler Horoscope Leo About Coach of the East Germany and Great Britain Olympic rowing teams in 11 games from 1972 to 2012. He was the winner of the 2000 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award. He and Sebastian Coe both won BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in the 2000s for their efforts in the Olympics. Before fame JURGEN GROBLER profile (2/16) - YouTube JURGEN GROBLER profile (2/16) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content.

The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Mar 15, 2012 Jurgen Grobler, chief coach of GB Rowing Team men's squad for the last 20 years, is one of the world's most successful sports coaches. He reveals some of his philosophy and methods, but warns: 'there are no shortcuts'. Category The Association Of Rowing Coaches, South Africa: Doing the Business with Jurgen Grobler The Association Of Rowing Coaches, South Africa This blog contains articles of interest to rowing coaches worldwide and includes topics such as rowing technique, exercise physiology, training methodology, sport psychology, strength training, endurance training, drills, sports medicine, anatomy, nutrition, training planning, biomechanics, overtraining and recovery, periodization and many others. Monday, December 29, 2008 Doing the Business with Jurgen Grobler Coaches – Doing the Business with Jurgen Grobler By David Bolchover This article was sourced from the Row2k website.

------------------------------- David Bolchover is the co-author of The 90-Minute Manager, which outlines the lessons that business managers can learn from football managers. His next book, The Living Dead: The Shocking Truth about Office Life, will be published by Wiley-Capstone in October. STOP a man in the street, ask if he has heard of Sir Steve Redgrave or Sir Matthew Pinsent, and he would probably be surprised that anyone would waste their breath asking. Of course he has heard of them. But mention the name of Jurgen Grobler and you would probably be met by a shrug of the shoulders. Yet this quiet, unobtrusive coach has been the indispensable influence behind the scenes during the past 14 halcyon years of British rowing. The limelight doesn’t interest Grobler. Only his athletes getting gold medals does. “I see my job as a service, helping young athletes, motivating them to the podium,” he said. “If you read the newspapers, you will see only the athletes’ names. That’s right. I have no problems there.” Public recognition does come along sporadically.

In 2000, Grobler won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year coaching award and four years later he was given a lifetime achievement award by the UK Coaching Foundation. He was awarded the freedom of his adopted town, Henley, on his return from success at the 1996 Olympics. But after each award, Grobler returned eagerly to the background. Grobler’s business equivalent is not the charismatic, rent-a-quote chief executive so beloved of the media, but rather the unsung middle manager who devotes his life to extracting the last drop of potential from the human resources at his disposal. At least, that’s what a corporate middle manager should be doing. The conclusion from recent research based on Gallup interviews with more than 1m employees across a broad range of industries in different countries leaves no doubt as to the value of good managers: “Talented employees need great managers. The talented employee may join a company because of its charismatic leaders, its generous benefits and its world-class training programmes . . . but how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor.” Grobler certainly knows this.

“To be successful again and again, I think every athlete needs a coach,” he said. “You notice when a good athlete wins, the first person he thanks will be his coach. He knows how important the coach has been to him, setting the right programme, preparing everything.” And Redgrave, speaking after yet another Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000, knew it too: “Without his (Grobler’s) support and help we wouldn’t be here. Too often business ignores the lessons of sport, epitomised by the likes of Grobler. During our conversation at the history-laden Leander Club in Henley he repeatedly referred to an overriding desire to help young people make the most of themselves. The history of sport is shouting at business that teams can only achieve excellence under the guidance of a talented people manager who forfeits the pursuit of his own achievements to dedicate himself to helping others achieve. Professional sport, the most competitive environment there is, has not only long recognised the sheer power of effective and committed people managers; it also understands that such individuals don’t grow on trees.

Whereas companies continue to promote people to management positions just because they happen to be good at what they do, sport has learnt that true managerial skill is much less common than functional expertise, the ability to perform well doing the job or playing the game. So, in Grobler, who never even attempted to forge a career as a rower for himself, we have the embodiment of some of the key messages sport can convey to business. He is a type of individual you will rarely come across in the business world — a man asked to do nothing but get the best out of others. From as far back as he can remember, as a youngster growing up in the rubble of post-war Magdeburg in communist East Germany, Grobler was both fascinated by the sport of rowing and resigned to the fact that he would never make it as an athlete. “I just didn’t have the right body shape to be a successful international athlete,” he said. “But I was always interested in the sport — the teamwork, trying to find out how far you can push your body.

I knew I couldn’t do it myself but I wanted to help young people achieve their goals.” So he enrolled on a five-year degree in sports science in Leipzig, then the leading university in that field in the country. On graduating, he returned to his local rowing club in Magdeburg and first attracted attention in his midtwenties when he won the club its first medal, coaching Wolfgang Guldenpfennig to the bronze in the single sculls at the Munich Olympics of 1972. He then went on to coach the coxless pair Bernd and Jörg Landvoigt to successive golds in 1976 and 1980. His record now is remarkable. He has a haul of 15 Olympic gold medals, eight with crews he has coached personally and seven as head coach or technical director of the rowing team, first with East Germany and then, since 1991, with Great Britain. Redgrave won three of his five Olympic golds under Grobler’s tutelage and Pinsent all four. Add on countless World Championship golds, and you start to wonder what it is about this seemingly unremarkable man that makes him such a supreme manager.

What differentiates the average managers from the Alex Ferguson’s and the Jurgen Grobler's, men who achieve success consistently over decades, with different organisations and despite changing personnel? According to Grobler, it is “how much you love the job, how motivated you are as a coach”. This might, at first glance, seem trite, but many businesses still ignore the essential truth contained in it. To be really good at anything, you surely have first to love doing it. But any ambitious individual who wants to ascend the corporate heights normally has to push early in his career to become a middle manager of some sort, whether he has any desire to manage people or not. The result can be uninterested, weak management and a consequently sluggish workforce, as workplace surveys bear out with disturbing regularity. A paltry 2% of UK Human Resources professionals interviewed by Personnel Today in 2003 stated that the people management skills of line managers in their companies were “excellent”, while 74% blamed ineffective line managers for low morale. Grobler’s love of coaching has two primary effects. First, it enables him to think nothing of working flat out for all hours to go that extra mile, examining every last detail to prepare his athletes for victory.

His own work ethic, enthusiasm and total commitment, he believes, also produce farreaching knock-on effects. They are in themselves a galvanising force, rubbing off on the athletes and making them strive harder to achieve their goals. “As in any other business where you want to be successful, this is not a 40- hour-a-week job. You have to devote all the time necessary to make the young athlete achieve. You have as a coach always to be in front, in the driving seat. You have to say to the athletes, ‘Look guys, I can’t do the training myself, but I will be there an hour before you so that everything is set up. I will help you.’ I always think that’s a big motivation for the athlete. They know there is someone there who will really help them and believe in them right through the tough times.” The second consequence of Grobler’s passion is that his thirst for more work destroys any potential for complacency, prevents him from resting on his laurels and pushes him forward to strive for future goals. When I asked him if he had any regrets, there was a telling silence. Eventually he shook his head and said: “I’m always thinking about the next one.

Always looking forward.” And right now he needs to do plenty of looking forward, to 2008 certainly and possibly to 2012. Redgrave retired in 2000. Out of the four who won the coxless four Olympic gold in Athens last year, Pinsent and Ed Coode have also now retired, and James Cracknell is taking a year out. There is clearly much rebuilding to be done before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 if the British rowing team is to continue its remarkable run of success. Grobler said the monumental task of sustaining the level of achievement in the face of the departure of these rowing legends has provided him with a renewed sense of mission, and, if he needed any, yet more enthusiasm. “This is a big challenge. I am maybe even more motivated than I was at the Athens Games,” he said. Grobler’s doubters should remember that the German is a proven master at bringing change and improvement. First he revitalised the ramshackle rowing club in Magdeburg, putting it on the Olympic map with a hotel and state-of-the-art fitness centre.

When he arrived in Henley in 1991, invited to replicate his East German success by the British rowing establishment, “it was just like Magdeburg 20 years before. A boathouse and a river, and nothing else”. With the help of lottery funding and driven by Grobler’s vision, the Leander Club now boasts the best training facilities and a refurbished boathouse, decked with trophies and myriad memories of triumph. Dilapidated facilities were one fundamental difficulty he faced on his arrival in Britain. The other was a dearth of the professionalism to which he was so accustomed in East Germany, where sport was “the Mercedes-Benz”, the prized asset of a dysfunctional system. “In my first Olympics here, it was all about ‘taking part’. I didn’t understand ‘taking part’. This was something totally new to me. I had to go there and win,” said Grobler. He might have learnt in detail the methodology of sports science and fitness training in East Germany, but coaching for him is much more than reading from a manual. It requires combining technical knowledge with a profound understanding of the mental and physical attributes of the individual he is dealing with.

“A coach might have a training programme to follow, but he will have a feel as to whether the athletes have to back off or push on. You need to find that line, that ceiling. Not to go too far. Push them two steps forward and then back off a little bit. That’s feeling.” Each athlete is an individual and no coach can afford to ignore that, he said. “Matthew (Pinsent) and James (Cracknell) and Steve (Redgrave) are not copies. They are totally different. In one way, you have to bring them together as a crew. The result has to be the same, going as fast as possible from A to B with each rower. But to motivate them, to bring them to the same level of performance, you will have to go a different route with each athlete.” Because Grobler treats each individual in a different way, there is always the chance that some may consider that others are receiving preferential treatment. This is where mutual trust comes in. The coach must know, on one side, that the athlete will not shirk any effort to achieve. On the flip side, all athletes must learn that the coach only has the good of the team at heart — there are no favourites.

“The coach has to establish a partnership with the athlete. Like all good partnerships, it has to be based on trust. Nothing should be kept under the table.” Grobler constantly conducts one-to-one discussions with athletes so he can gauge the mental state of his charges. “A successful athlete-coach partnership must be coach-driven but the coach cannot function without good feedback from the athletes. An important part of the coach’s job is to listen.” Few people like confrontation and the amiable Grobler is no exception. But he forces himself to engage in honest criticism: “It’s never nice. But you must always start from a base of trust, partnership and openness. We shouldn’t be shy of bringing things out on the table. We could just make every day nice, with no problems. But you will never improve that way.” Grobler normally reserves his sharpest criticism for one individual — himself. If an athlete is underperforming despite his or her best efforts, he takes it personally, and he challenges himself to come up with a more effective strategy for that individual. “I feel responsible and always say that we are in the same boat,” he said. “If the athletes win, it’s their victory. If they lose, then it’s the coach’s fault.

I feel a lot more down than the athletes sometimes. I am always first say to myself, ‘Maybe I made a mistake’.” It is difficult to imagine Grobler losing his temper. But if an athlete threatens the trust that has been painstakingly built up between the two of them, then self-criticism and constructive feedback fly out of the window: “If I see they are cutting corners again and again, then I get very upset . . . I always say the last stroke counts. The last stroke last year made us Olympic champions. They all have to learn that in training.” That last stroke in Athens won an Olympic gold for the coxless four crew of Pinsent, Cracknell, Coode and Steve Williams by the margin of 45 centimetres — or 0.08 seconds. This victory was particularly sweet for Grobler, because it came in the wake of a highly controversial and widely criticised shift in selection policy in the weeks before the race. Pinsent and Cracknell were originally down to compete in the coxless pairs. But Grobler decided that the best chance for a British gold would require them to switch to the coxless fours, displacing a devastated Rick Dunn andToby Garnett.

The ruthlessness of the decision inevitably created considerable tension in the squad. Grobler was again prepared to sacrifice a cosy atmosphere in the pursuit of excellence. “I don’t do things just to make trouble or show how powerful I am,” he said. “But nor do I run away from the job.” The German is happy and settled in Henley, describing himself as “more British than the Brits”. Filled with energy by the prospect of the rebuilding process that lies ahead, he hopes shortly to get the nod to continue in his current role until the London games in 2012. Doesn’t he want to start to wind down, to relax a bit? “I relax in the morning when everyone comes in on time.” Jurgen Grobler's leadership lessons: Love your job. Enjoy helping others achieve their goals To be a good manager, you have to love managing. This passion will ensure your dedication to the job. It will also be infectious, increasing the commitment of others and inspiring them to attain their own goals. Mutual trust and openness are key — guard them jealously. No manager can operate effectively without trust. The team must believe that the manager treats them with honesty and integrity and hides nothing.

For his part, the manager must know that each team member shares his goals. Question yourself before you question your team You are responsible for the underperformance of any member of your team. Always analyse your own performance as a manager before criticising others Don’t run away from tough decisions It is easy to sit in your ivory tower and avoid confronting awkward issues. Some decisions might antagonise certain individuals. That doesn't mean you shouldn’t make them. It’s your job. You’re a manager. No two people are the same — deal with them differently If you deal with everybody in an identical way, you will not get the best out of your team. It is your responsibility to find out what makes each individual tick and then manage them accordingly. No criticism means no progress For your people to improve, they have to know where they are going wrong. Criticising others might not be pleasant, but having a nice, cosy life should not be your goal. Managing others is not a one-way process. Always listen Listen to what your team is telling you. If you don’t, you won’t understand them. And if you don’t understand them, you can’t manage them. Shun all favouritism. Performance is all.

There is no room for cronyism in any team or organisation that strives for excellence. Who is best able to carry out a specific task or fulfil a particular role? That is the only relevant question in selection and recruitment. Jurgen Grobler: I want some new heroes to inspire a generation | London Evening Standard Jurgen Grobler: I want some new heroes to inspire a generation Thursday 25 August 2011 09:49 BST Click to follow ES Sport Call the shots: Jurgen Grobler has made a huge impact on British rowing On January 3 1991, an iconic moment in British sporting history occurred when Jurgen Grobler arrived in England for a new life with his wife Angela and 10-year-old son Chris having packed up all their possessions from their home in Berlin. At the time, Grobler's decision was a gamble. The much sought-after rowing coach had been part of the set-up in the former East Germany, where he had the use of state-of-the-art facilities and had guided crews to gold medals at every Olympics from 1972.

But the then 45-year-old wanted a new challenge and opted to take up the post of head coach at the Leander Club, who boasted a pre-knighthood Sir Steve Redgrave, at the time with a mere two Olympic golds, among their rowers. Grobler laughs a laugh you cannot help but find contagious as he recalls how Leander officials tried to tempt him to make the move with an earlier day out at Henley Regatta, which was in stark contrast to his experience as he walked into the club for the first time. "Henley Regatta was a different world to me," he recalls, looking up to the sky as if to help cast his mind back. "When I went there I knew the system with rowing was that athletes first had to show their bank accounts before being selected. But there I was at Henley and I was thinking 'there must be some money in this sport'. "There wasn't and when I came to Leander there were boats and a shed with lots of spiders in there and some weights, that's it. Some people had said I had been successful because of the system in Germany and I wanted to see if I could do it in a different system.

I wanted to see 'is it the system or the coaching?' "Coming to England, straight away I loved it. I got to London and saw the red buses," he says chuckling again, raising his hands to accentuate the magnitude and vividness of the memory. "It was so surreal and I just loved it." Two decades on, the love affair has intensified, to the extent he considers himself British - which he admits even stretches to supporting England over Germany in the football however badly they might fare. "You have to take the bad bits and the good bits too," he smiles. While Britain has clearly been good to Grobler, he has returned the favour by continuing an unblemished record of guiding a crew to gold at the last 10 Olympics. After spending time in his company, you can see why. He talks with the enthusiasm of someone on day one of a new job. His eyes, much younger than his 65 years would suggest, glisten as he looks back on past crews and his current crop of rowers. His most successful disciples so far have been Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent, both of whom have waxed lyrical about his coaching talents.

Grobler's main charges at present are the pair of Andrew Triggs-Hodge and Pete Reed, who boast an unenviable record of 13 defeats to New Zealand pairing Hamish Bond and Eric Murray since the 2008 Olympics. Their coach hints the two strongest rowers in the British camp could become part of a four next year while Reed, ahead of my interview, gives a little insight to Grobler after he has spent the past hour riding up and down on a mountain bike at Team GB's Caversham training base putting him and Triggs-Hodge through their pre-World Championship paces. "Jurgen's a great guy," says Reed. "He's strict when he needs to be strict, he's humorous, he's a lot of things. You'll see for yourself what sort of a person he is." The truth is that, even if you weren't a fan of rowing before talking to Grobler, you cannot help but become hooked on it afterwards. Grobler has worked with legends of the sport and although he looks back fondly, it is the future that drives him, past next week's World Championships at Lake Bled, Slovenia, and even past next year's Olympics.

"Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent were two outstanding athletes," he says. "But the new athletes are as important and good as those of the past. I want to have new heroes, that's what our sport needs, that's the message we need to spread for young people. We need young people to look at our athletes and think 'if he can do it, I can do it'. They need to inspire a new generation." Whether he likes it or not, Grobler will always be synonymous with that pairing - after all, a road named Grobler Way leads you to the Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake, aka the home of British Rowing. "There was no question in 1992 and 1996 that they were the best pairing but 2000 was different," recalls Grobler. "To everyone it was about Steve Redgrave but there were other people to consider, too. There's no question Steve was a legendary athlete and, of course, we wanted him to win a fifth gold but he had some problems as everyone knew about and we had to manage that, and people have to remember that athletes are quite selfish people. "It was an Olympics and there was so much pressure.

Steve questioned himself, too, and the trick was to know all the athletes very well. I didn't try to protect him but I always had the confidence in him. "I remember when they won, I was so, so happy. I can't hold back when teams win, it's such a big, big thing." More often than not in Grobler's vast experience, they win, and he gives the impression of someone who lives and breathes every stroke his crews take. Modest to the core, he likes to downplay his part in it all. "If they win it's them and, if they lose, it's me," he says before expanding on his coaching work. "My role is to motivate them, particularly on days when they're very tired." The one area of coaching Grobler admits he has never entirely got to grips with is telling athletes they have failed to make the grade. He always goes out of his way to break the news to them face to face but, in the build-up to that encounter, he has sleepless nights. "The hardest thing is saying to someone 'you're not good enough'," he says. "These are people who have done everything for their coach and you just go back to them and say 'sorry'.

That never gets any easier. "I can't sleep for a while before then as I see it coming. Now much more than before, we try to prepare athletes for that day so they know what to expect. But what I always say to them after that is 'prove me wrong'. Oh, I just love to be proved wrong by people who come back and prove they are good enough after all. That's a great pleasure." With a home Olympics looming, the pressure is greater than ever for places. With no hint of irony or over-exaggeration, Grobler says his goal for 2012 is "for every boat to win gold" before adding "that's always the goal". Despite Britain's strong medal chances - they boasted four gold medals at last year's World Championships and nine medals in all, such a feat is unthinkable. As well as winning, Grobler hopes the entire team will be winning clean next year. Britain's rowers have been heavily tested recently - sculler Mark Hunter underwent four tests in 18 days. "You think about it every single day," says Grobler. "They're young people and, if you're talking about performance, everyone wants to be in the eight, for example.

There are 12 guys who want to be in the boat but there are only eight seats, so you can never totally be sure. "People might do something and not think in that moment so we need to be very honest. I hope it never happens and, anyway, we have a good system in rowing to catch them." Grobler comes from a system in East Germany where doping was commonplace in Olympic sport and he has admitted to regrets about his role in that system in the past. It is clearly a subject he is not entirely comfortable talking about. "To single out just one country like East Germany for doping, is too easy, doping is as old as sport," he says. "That does not, of course, make doping right. Drugs have the chance to damage athletes and I really feel every effort is being made to clean up our sport." The issue of drugs aside, Grobler's sole focus is getting his crews to peak at the perfect time. "You have to peak on just one day, not the day before and not the day after," he says. "That's the key and everything else is building up to that. You have to do your best to do with that and afterwards then live with the success and disappointment.

Four or five days I know before whether the crews are ready and then it's time for the fine-tuning. From then, it's up the crews to deliver the goods. At this World Championships, all six of my boat classes have the chance to win a medal." That also looks likely to be the case in London in less than a year. More about: London 2012: GB rowing coach Jurgen Grobler to shuffle squad - BBC Sport BBC Sport London 2012: GB rowing coach Jurgen Grobler to shuffle squad 13 Feb 2012 Read more about sharing. Team GB rowing coach Jurgen Grobler is to overhaul the men's squad ahead of the London Olympics, BBC Radio Berkshire understands. Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge, who have been racing in a pair, are likely to move into the four in place of Matt Langridge and Ric Egington. However, Hodge has insisted that no decison has been made, responding: "I can offically say it's far from done." Grobler has 18 rowers in his squad but only 14 seats for the Olympic Games.

The GB trials take place on 10-11 March, ahead of the World Cup start in April, with Olympic selection in June. Reed and Triggs Hodge are regarded as Grobler's strongest oarsmen but since the last Olympic Games they have been beaten 14 times in succession by New Zealand's Hamish Blair and Eric Murray, leaving the Britons with World Championship silver for three years in a row. KEY DATES FOR GB ROWERS IN 2012 11 March - World Cup selection trials, Eton-Dorney 6 May - World Cup, Belgrade 27 May - World Cup, Lucerne 6/7 June - Olympic squad announced 17 July - World Cup, Munich 28 July - Start of Olympic regatta The pair were part of the gold-medal winning four in Beijing, along with Tom James and Steve Williams, and Grobler looks set to return them to that boat ahead of London. However, moving Reed and Triggs Hodge into the four would dismantle the line-up of Egington, Langridge, James and Alex Gregory that won the world title last year and remained unbeaten throughout the season.

"There have been discussions [about selection], but among the athletes," Reed told BBC Sport last month. "Andy [Hodge] and I are very close. We've been together for a long time racing in boats together. "It's only natural for us to talk about what our expectations are, especially after winning gold in Beijing and three years of silver medals in the pair. "Right now, we've decided to concentrate on making ourselves as good as possible because whichever boat we're in, we need to make it as fast as possible and really chuck ourselves into that project with both feet." Langridge, also speaking in January, told BBC Sport: "[I want to be in] the four. I did the eight in Beijing and was disappointed to not win gold, but I think I've set my sights on being in the four in London. That's my priority. "I've been with the four for the last three years. I've really felt like I've been part of building that project going into London and I want to see it right through until the end. "However, the eight is a great boat as well and although the four is the boat I'm aiming for, if I end up in the eight, I'd really relish the challenge.

Getting silver in Beijing was disappointing so it would be nice to put that right in London." Ivor Lloyd, managing director of Olympic venue Dorney Lake, told BBC Radio Berkshire: "[Reed and Hodge] were pretty much being eclipsed by the New Zealanders, so I think the amalgamation of the guys into four - and then the fall-out of the four into the eight and the restructuring of all the boats - is quite a major impact. "I think that always takes very good management to make that happen because I think you have burn-out and fall-out along the way." Share this page Jürgen Grobler OBE - British Rowing Jürgen Grobler OBE Chief Coach for Men Jürgen is the GB Rowing Team’s Chief Coach for Open Men and has personally coached GB gold medal crews from Great Britain in each of the past six Olympic Games since 1992. Following some excellent performances by his crews over the past few seasons, Jürgen continued this winning streak at the Rio 2016 Olympic Regatta, and was rewarded with Sports Coach UK’s Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2016.

On The Water ©Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013 – 2016 Jurgen’s crews have consistently delivered top performances at the 2013, 2014 and 2015 World Championships. His eight has won gold for three consecutive years, and he also put together a gold medal winning four in 2014. At the 2015 World Championships in Aiguebelette, the eight – Matt Gotrel (Leander Club), Constantine Louloudis (Oxford Univ BC), Pete Reed (Leander Club), Paul Bennett (Univ of London BC), Mohamed Sbihi (Molesey BC), Alex Gregory (Leander Club), George Nash (Molesey BC), Will Satch (Leander Club) and cox Phelan Hill (Leander Club) – pipped longstanding rivals Germany to the line by 0.18 seconds.

This tussle continued throughout 2016: the German eight triumphed at the European Rowing Championships in Brandenburg and third World Cup regatta in Poznan over the new GB lineup of Scott Durant , Tom Ransley , Andrew T Hodge , Matt Gotrel , Pete Reed , Paul Bennett , Matt Langridge , Will Satch and cox Phelan Hill . The GB eight gathered themselves, however, to produce a spectacular race in the Olympic final in Rio; they lead from the start and were uncatchable by half way, winning GB’s first gold in this event since Sydney in 2000. This result is testament not only to the mettle of the athletes, but of the perseverance and belief of their coaches, Jürgen and Christian Felkel. In addition to this, Jürgen coached the men’s four of Alex Gregory , Mohamed Sbihi , George Nash and Constantine Louloudis to an exceptional Olympic gold medal, his fifth in this event.

London 2012 Olympiad: 2009 – 2012 The GB Rowing Team men’s four of Andrew Triggs Hodge, Peter Reed , Tom James and Alex Gregory , coached by Jürgen, took gold at Eton Dorney in the summer of 2012 – a remarkable fourth consecutive gold for GB in this boat category and another golden milestone in a 20-year GB history for Jürgen. More info... Jürgen’s first two GB gold medals – in Barcelona (’92) and Atlanta (’96) – were with the pair of Steve Redgrave and Matt Pinsent. When Jürgen arrived at Leander Club to coach in 1991, Redgrave already had two Olympic titles to his name, but Pinsent was just 20 years old with two senior bronzes. Jürgen moulded them into one of the best pairs of all time and after Atlanta, presided over their move into the four which won gold in Sydney.

With Tim Foster and James Cracknell this crew won world titles in ’97, ’98 and ’99 and their race for gold in Sydney gained worldwide publicity, much of it attracted by Steve Redgrave’s quest for a record fifth Olympic title. In Athens, four years later, Jürgen also coached the four which included Pinsent and Cracknell with Steve Williams and Ed Coode. Their nail–biting final entranced millions on TV and galvanised the spectators in Athens, but they did it by just 8 hundredths of a second, Pinsent winning his 4th gold. For the first 3 years of the Olympiad Cracknell and Pinsent had raced in the pair but they finished 4th at the 2003 Worlds, forcing a rethink and a move into the four for the 2004 season. After 2004 Jürgen worked to rebuild the men’s squad, overseeing the emergence of a strong sculling track and a new four, containing just one of the Athens crew.

In 2005 and 2006 they won World titles once again under Jürgen’s watchful eye and at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 won gold. Beyond the Boat Jürgen was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Rowing in 2006. He won BBC TV’s Coach of the Year Award in 2000 and lives with his wife, Angela, in Henley on Thames. Before moving to the UK in 1991, he had an outstanding coaching career in rowing with the former East Germany. Funding Partners The master of British men’s rowing - worldrowing.com The master of British men’s rowing 18 June 2013 It would nearly impossible to find a rowing coach with an Olympic track record that comes close to that of Great Britain’s Juergen Grobler. Add up ten consecutive Olympic Games (minus the boycotted 1984 Games) and attach gold medals to all of them. SHARE From his roots as a coach in East Germany, Grobler moved to Great Britain in 1991.

His career has seen him coach some of the greats in rowing including Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell and from Germany Harald Jahrling, amongst others. Just shy of his 67th birthday, Grobler remains the men’s chief coach of British Rowing. He returns to the home of the London 2012 Olympic Games rowing regatta, Eton Dorney, later this week when he fields his team for the Samsung World Rowing Cup II beginning on 21 June 2013. "A good coach can first deal with young people and have skills in managing young people/athletes and other people around them. It’s a relationship or a partnership between the rowers and the coach," Grobler says World Rowing: How has the British Rowing coaching system changed since you began in 1992? Juergen Grobler: When I started I was one of very few full-time coaches in the country. You had mainly part-time coaches, like at Oxford and Cambridge (universities). So I was one of the few. Now we have a system of different levels of full-time coaches.

Things are done to support the coaches from Start (talent ID) coaches up to high performance coaches. The whole system is a lot more professional. WR: What or who has driven that change? JG: That change was driven by Brian Armstrong of the ARA (British Amateur Rowing Association) at the beginning and later by David Tanner. But overall the ARA has always had, even when I started, a relatively professional approach to the sport. At that time there was also a coaches’ advisory group at the British Olympic Association and I was able to look at how they organised other sports. The ARA was always quite advanced in their thinking. They always felt that you need to have full-time coaches to perform. A lot of it was also driven by Di Ellis (former chair of British Rowing) and by the athletes who were asking for more. The athletes felt that if they spent the time to train and compete and they had to give up things and make sacrifices then they wanted to be coached well and to be successful. They wanted to have more full-time coaches. But the start was always from the management of the ARA who are now British Rowing and the GB Rowing Team. WR: Where do you like to be when you’re coaching?

JG: I would always wish to coach from a boat but unfortunately since I am in Britain there have been only a few times I have had the chance to coach from a launch. In the early days I was at Henley on the river. It is a busy river and there’s a gentleman’s agreement not to use launches as you would wash other crews down. So there was no other way than to be on the bike. It hasn’t changed since the move to Caversham. We are driven by respect for other athletes. So I am still on the bike. I really like it when we are on training camps. You are closer to the athletes and the boats and you can talk better. You don’t have to shout out over a megaphone or a walkie-talkie. Jurgen Grobler give James Cracknell of Great Britain some last minute advice as he carries the blades down to the pontoon at the 2000 Olympic Games Regatta in Sydney, Australia WR: Do you ever put your sweep rowers into sculling boats? JG: Yes, we have introduced sculling in the autumn so every sweep rower sculls throughout this season. Single sculling is important.

We know that we are a team sport but single sculling is something special in our sport. You learn to train on your own and you gain more skills. You learn a lot more waterman-ship. Not every sweep oarsman likes this. Sir Steve Redgrave liked to be a sculler and would probably have loved to change one of his gold medals for a single sculling medal. Matt Pinsent was different, he didn’t like it but still he did it and it didn’t complain. WR: Do you think it’s best to watch and stay with the athletes when they are training or give them some time without you there? JG: I always try to be with the athletes most of the time to help to give them the best possible advice and I always think that if I write the programme it sometimes can be a bit difficult. So I have to be there (especially at the start of training at 7am) and not find an excuse not to be there. So far, in my career, I like to be around the athletes. WR: Is there a piece of rowing technology that you always like to have with you?

JG: I think the key thing is my head, my voice, my eyes and that I am always listening and that is the key part of my coaching as well as my knowledge and experience about training and technique. I like to be there and to be approachable for athletes. Jurgen Grobler of Great Britain watches the Men's Single Sculls at the London 2012 Olympic Games rowing regatta WR: Are there any computer programmes that you like to use? JG: No, there is no computer programme that I like to use in particular. The computer is very helpful. In the past I had piles of folders in my loft with data but now I can store data and get quick access to it. I have a camera. That is a very useful tool now. But I don’t have a special programme on the computer. Sometimes I use Dartfish but not other big programmes. There are other things on the iPhone which are quite useful tools, too. WR: Where can you be found when one of your crews is racing in an important race?

JG: I really like to be there and watch it live on my bike, when the venue is one where we can cycle and follow the races and FISA makes it possible for us to do that. If that’s not possible, I look for the nearest TV. I like to see the beginning of every race on the TV and the rest live. WR: Do you get nervous when your crews are racing? JG: I think I am nervous like every other coach. It’s quite a common thing. Of course, you can’t predict sport even if you have beaten everyone before and you are supposed to win, it can come down to the last stroke. I am nervous and hold myself back and don’t move to celebrate early. Great Britain's Pete Reed (l), Andrew Triggs Hodge (r) and their coach Juergen Grobler (c) at the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup in Penrith near Sydney, Australia. WR: What is your main philosophy on what makes a good coach? JG: A good coach can first deal with young people and have skills in managing young people/athletes and other people around them. It’s a relationship or a partnership between the rowers and the coach.

You have to have a good scientific background and a vision about how your sport might develop in four years’ time. What will help win a medal in Rio or even after, what changes will there be in that time? Dealing with stress well is also important with all different types of athletes and their personalities and being able to bring them together well as a team. The team is a key thing. Every individual has to be not a copy of somebody else, but a strong individual. It is the same for coaches. People should have their own ideas about being a coach and not just copy others. Every day is a new day and a new life and the people you are dealing with are not machines so you have to be flexible and you have to be a good guide and you need to change the programme from time to time if you feel that people can’t cope with it. WR: Do you get on well with your athletes or try to keep a distance? JG: I think a little bit of both. In one way I know that I am not dealing with kids. Many of them already have their own children. I respect what they are doing and I hope they have respect for me and that makes a good partnership. But you also have to have fun.

If you create fun you have laughter and then you are closer to the athletes. Otherwise you need to have enough distance to have respect. Someone has to set the guidelines and to make the decisions and that’s the coach or the chief coach and that’s how I always see it. I have a good relationship with the athletes but also enough distance to see the athletes and coach in a positive way. Not a dictatorship but a good partnership. Athletes need to have their say and their input to the programme. They should feel they are able to ask “why” we are doing this. Juergen Grobler keeps a balance of friendship and distance between him and his athletes WR: When picking out potential in an athlete, what do you look for? JG: I look in rowing, in heavyweight rowing, for the body size. Secondly when you talk to those young people you try to find out how single-minded and how strong their will is to do sport. What it means to them to be at the top of a high-performing sport. They should really want it. You can’t work with people who shy away from the workload; they should want to do it of their own free-will.

I ask them to be honest about what it means and what they have to sacrifice to be a top athlete. I was in charge of talent ID and development when I started and talking to the rowers was very important to me. Quite often you do the physical tests and the big guys might not be the most talented athletes. You can also see things if you set them a 3km run test. It’s not always about being the fastest but how they do it. Even if the 100kg or the 100kg-plus guys had never run that far, it’s about how they do it. WR: In your time coaching in Great Britain have you ever had a break? JG: No, I have never had a break other than the normal three-week holiday every year. WR: Do you row yourself? JG: No, I haven’t been in a rowing boat for a very, very long time. Last time was probably at Henley on Thames when I went out in a four with Steve (Redgrave) and Matt (Pinsent) for a bit of fun. WR: Of the athletes that you have coached who would you like to go out rowing with?

JG: [Big laugh] it’s probably more the question of who would be happy to row with me. It’s not fair to say one name. I am sure whoever did it they would have to be very understanding and pull me along. With thanks to Caroline Searle for the interview.

Question: Jrgen Grbler is a famous coach in what sport?
Answer: Rowing