Rower Ymkje Clevering of the Gyas rowing club from Groningen will take the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. Clevering will compete in all four games.
25-year-old rower on the boat with Elaine Hogerwirf, Caroline Florin and Veronique Meester. The team is a three-time European champion and last month broke its own record with a time of 06:20.21.
Form
In 2019, Clevering sustained a serious injury after falling off her bike, meaning the rower wasn’t in top shape for the first time after her recovery. Now that’s different, Clevering says over the phone, because she’s in the shape of her life. “I feel super fit, paddling with the four of us is better than ever. You just feel like we get along so well with each other.”
The golden medal
“We definitely keep that in mind. It’s hard to estimate if it’s realistic, because we haven’t seen a lot of teams not sailing in Europe for a long time. It remains to be seen, but we definitely believe in our speed.”
Which team are you afraid of?
“Yes fear, fear, we are more curious about the Australian team. In 2019, Australia became world champion and second Holland. After that they did not sit still, they changed the line-up and that made them stronger. A large part of these girls I haven’t rowed yet. Very curious and yes fearful? I feel a healthy tension towards them.”
The four will debut without work on July 24, with Ymkje Clevering, because after that the series will end. There will be a second chance on July 26th, followed by the final on July 28th. The series will be final at 01:30 and replay at 02:00 (Netherlands time). This means that a rower has to turn on the TV in the middle of the night.
You can listen to the entire interview below.
