Olympic fever hits Ballarat once again
WRMR 2014 and City of Ballarat welcomes back 1956 Olympians with special reunion
The second day of the 2014 World Rowing Masters Regatta was all about the Olympics today, with the Mayor of Ballarat hosting over 20 Olympians who competed at Lake Wendouree for in the rowing regatta the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.
A commemorative row-past started the lunchtime proceedings with members of Japan's Men's Eight from the event, coxed by Australia's John Cockbill, rowing alongside a composite '56 Olympians crew made up of rowers from Australia, Greece, Italy and Germany.
Much to the delight of the spectators and rowers on Lake Wendouree the crews, made up of rowers aged from their early 70s to well over 80 years of age, raced along with as much competitive verve as they had back in 1956, with the Japanese crew just pipping the composite crew at the line.
The group then returned to dry land where they were welcomed to a special ceremony by the Mayor of Ballarat, John Phillips and other dignitaries including RA Board Member Andrew Guerin. During the ceremony each '56 Olympian was presented with a commemorative medal by Australian Olympic rowing gold medallist, Peter Antonie.
The ceremony saw Olympians reflecting on the wonderful time and lifelong friendships they forged at the 1956 games and were thrilled to have the opportunity to catch up once again, an opportunity that last happened in 2002.
Mr Tohru Sasaki who travelled to Ballarat with the Japanese Men's Eight in 1956 as their reserve rower said the group had thoroughly enjoyed the reunion: "It is wonderful and a true honour to be back in Ballarat again. We had a wonderful time here in 1956, where we forged many friendships that have lasted to the present day.
"We remember how friendly the people of Australia were to us in 1956 and they have been fantastic hosts to us again. The crew enjoyed being back out on the water and it was not as windy or choppy as when we lost our semi-final in 1956!"
Greek single sculler, Nick Chatziyakoumis, competed in the Melbourne Olympics and was knocked out in the semi-finals on Lake Wendouree but ended up staying in Australia and raising his family in Melbourne.
Mr Chatziyakoumis was emotional at the function saying: "It's just so wonderful to see everyone again and to be together, I'm so grateful to everyone who organised this moment for us.
"I stayed in Australia after the Olympics and married an Australian woman and raised my family here and it was the best thing I ever did. I still have such wonderful memories of being in Ballarat for the Olympics and today will be another memory I will treasure forever."
John Jenkinson of Australia, who as a 15-year-old coxed the Australian Men's Four in 1956 and was the Australian Olympic Team's youngest member said: "Well many of us have stayed in touch over the years but we've not had a reunion since 2002 so it's been a real thrill to be back here in Ballarat.
"The equipment and boats have changed dramatically since 1956, but the conditions today have been very similar to the first three days of competition in Ballarat in 1956. We should have handled them with ease, but I'm not sure we did that well!
"Rowing is a sport for all ages, I was lucky at 15 to be a part of an Olympics and Rainer (Borkowsky - Germany's coxswain) was lucky at 14 to be the German cox, and we have both continued to be involved in rowing over many years."
Jenkinson formed a lifelong friendship with Rainer Borkowsky of Germany who won silver in 1956 when he coxed Germany's Men's Pair to silver in 1956: "I was just 14-years-old when I first came to Ballarat and to cox the international crew today was fantastic, it was like the old days being back in the boat.
"We were very young back then, the coxswains had to be very lightweight and then of course only young guys were found to do it, it's very different now!"
John Cockbill, who also featured in the 1956 Olympics and coxed two Victorian King's Cup crews, coxed the Japanese crew in the row-past and said: "It was a lovely day today, if a little windy! I was worried I'd struggle with the language barrier coxing the Japanese, but they did some training in advance of Australian coxing terms so that we would be able to row together, which was very kind!
"The biggest difference today for me was using a coxswain's box. Fifty-eight years ago it was only the Men's Pair that I was coxing and today's boat was a bit bigger, in those days you didn't have the coxswain's box, which is the powered speaker system in the boat, it was the first time I had the experience of using it and it was great fun!"
While the highlight of the day was no doubt the Olympic reunion, racing took place throughout the day, despite blustery conditions with 78 winning medals handed out today. Currently topping the Masters medal count is Melbourne Rowing Club with 20 medals, followed by Melbourne University Rowing Club and Essendon Rowing Club with 13 medals each.
The full list of Olympians who took part in the row-past were:
- John Cockbill (Australia)
- Masao Hara (Japan)
- Kazuo Obata (Japan)
- Takashi Imamura (Japan)
- Yoshinobu Hiki (Japan - representing his brother Yoshiki Hiki)
- Tohru Sasaki (Japan - Travelling Reserve 1956)
- Yasukuni Watanabe (Japan)
- Yozo Iwasaki (Japan)
- Bob Duncan (Australia)
- John Jenkinson (Australia)
- Jack Morganti (Australia - Travelling Reserve 1956)
- Nick Chatziyakoumis (Greece)
- Cosimo Campioto (Italy)
- Antonia Casuar (Italy)
- Adrian Monger (Australia)
- Neville Howell (Australia)
- Rainer Borkowsky (Germany)