CHENNAI: Nicolae Gioga is probably the most reputed coach for India in any discipline ahead of the upcoming Asian Games. With back-to-back Olympic rowing medals (1996 & 2000) and three world titles in between, the Romanian is only used to winning. At times, he may come across as arrogant while speaking of his achievements.
“I have won much more gold medals than silver and bronze together,” he says. But as we go on, it appears more about desire to win than pride.”
Even during his last assignment with Iran, he won five gold medals at the Asian Championships. For the 66-year-old, anything below that number is a failure for him. “Could I accept to be under my previous standard? Not later than last year, at the 2017 Asian Championships, I won with Iranian rowers five gold medals, two silver medals and one bronze medal. My challenge now is to fight for winning seven gold medals and come back from Jakarta with all our rowers bagging medals,” Gioga told Express.
With India, he knows things won’t be easy. The country’s record at continental events has gone down drastically recently. While Olympic and World Championship wins are still a dream, it is India’s form at the Asian level that is more worrying. At the 2017 Asian Championship, they managed one bronze in the lightweight coxless four category compared to seven medals in the 2015 edition. In 2016, the team did not even participate.
Known for his unconventional training methods, Gioga is popular among rowers and federation officials in the country. ‘Eccentric’ is the word used by some to describe the veteran. Speaking to the rowers, it was understood that some of them were not very comfortable with the way things are going on at the camp in Pune. While they feel his approach may come in handy when it matters, the fact that they have never trained in such intensity suggests they have a long way to go.
But Gioga was full of praise for them. “Their attitude is very good. Unfortunately, their physical construction is not as strong as their wish and as we need. In the India rowing team, we will not have psychological problems. We are going to prepare our athletes to be able to fight for gold medals. As I have proved, I am able to speak the golden language of rowing. Then, it is my duty to inoculate in them the virus of victory.”
After assessing medallists from the 2017 National Championships and some of them with suitable anthropometrical measurements, the perspective is much better for the boys, according to Gioga. “From 22 girls, we could only choose six to which we added five other junior rowers,” he says.Ask him how many medals India is capable of winning in Jakarta, there is no proper number. “India is going to enter in eight events for men and three for women. Hundred percent the boys will be medallists. The girls and the technical staff together are doing their best to increase the speed of the girls’ boat, so that they can fight for medals.”
vimalsankar@newindianexpress.com