Perfectionist pulls no punches

ROWING/Interview with national head coach Harald Jahrling: Liam Gorman talks to the German coach who believes if Ireland is serious about achieving Olympic success then it is time for the talking to stop

The banks of Blessington Lakes are a riot of green this May morning. Already three hours into their training session, the Ireland rowing squad take quietly to the choppy blue waters and head off to find a sheltered corner for technical exercises. The session runs on rails: there is no need for talk.

With little over two years to the Beijing Olympics, this is Ireland's most accomplished sport. Head coach Harald Jahrling rules with all the authority one would expect from a German with strong opinions, two Olympic gold medals as an athlete, and a successful first season with this squad behind him. He unfolds two trestles, sits in the boat bay in the dilapidated concrete box that acts as a boathouse and talks, seemingly oblivious to what's before him.

He seems exasperated by the Irish attitude to top-class international sport. He says some hard things about how internationals are expected to perform in "disgraceful" conditions. He repeatedly asserts in Ireland there is "too much talk, not enough action". The context is of a perfectionist who has come to a new country to do a job; a man who thinks success comes from having pride in what you do and doing what it takes to not let your country down. This core concept is articulated as he reacts with some heat to suggestions because the World Championships are in England this year he will choose a big team.

"We have a long-term plan and it doesn't really matter where it is. I said to all the rowers before selection really got under way they should stop the discussion about Eton being so close, so we should send more people. The number of people is determined by the performance on the water, so they don't disgrace their country when they go overseas. There is no point getting people to the World Championships and they come second last or something like that. I don't think we should treat ourselves that way."

Jahrling arrived in Ireland from the Australian system at the beginning of last year, and early on, the stories seeped out of an authoritarian figure who had international athletes picking up discarded paper. The stories were all true.

He is "shocked" by the unfinished structure the athletes use as a boat bay at the moment. "Just have a look," the giant German says, indicating the bare, unpainted walls, the grotty feel of the place. "I think it is disgraceful. I think it is absolutely disgraceful what happens here to the best, one of the best, Olympic sports in the country. How little people care - that's what I don't understand. The lack of care.

"Just look around here. The garbage that lies around. No one cares. We constantly run around with garbage bags here; we fill them once a week, a huge garbage bag. People just drop anything."

Athletes don't do this, I say, pointing to a cigarette package outside. He agrees.

"Anyone runs around outside. But in here we only get athletes. And coaches. I mean if we don't show a little bit of care, our young athletes will show no care. And then the next generation will show no care."

The National Rowing Centre, in the relatively remote location of Inniscara Lake in mid-Cork, will be a huge improvement when completed.

"No matter what people think about where it is, it will be an enormous improvement for us. And we are going to use it. The other thing is we are looking at moving outside the country more. When this season is over we are looking at places somewhere on the Mediterranean. We need better weather." He looks out at the windswept surface of the lake. "I mean this is Ireland here."

He acknowledges the support of the Irish Sports Council, which will help fund the camps abroad. "When you come close to preparation (for) World Championships and Olympic Games you don't want to be caught sitting here in Ireland and it blows for a week. I need a place where it is more dependable, where I know that the weather at this time of the year is 90 per cent calm."

He is a demanding man, and he makes no apologies for it. As soon as he arrived, his imposing size, steely grey hair and booming voice meant no one would ignore him. It would not necessarily have guaranteed him respect - but the results last season spoke for themselves.

The lightweight four of Richard Archibald, Eugene Coakley, Tim Harnedy and Paul Griffin won a silver medal at the World Championships in Gifu in Japan; the lightweight women's double of Sinéad Jennings and Heather Boyle made the final; and the heavyweight four he created finished 10th, having earlier in the season broken a long, barren period for Ireland's heavyweights with a bronze medal at the Munich World Cup.

Jahrling's hopes for the year ahead are simple: "We want to do something like last year. I thought that was quite a good year."

The key point about the three successful boats was that they were in Olympic classes, and this is where his focus lies.

"When you go through an Olympic cycle of four years, you spend the first two years identifying the people you want to do it with. We are now in the second year of doing this. So we're not changing things. That was the plan and that's how we're going to do it. Two years of identifying and then the Olympic squad will be announced after the World Championships and then we concentrate on the Olympic squad."

What is our potential?

"We have small potential, because we are a small country. Big potential, you're looking at big countries, you know, like Germany, the US, like the French. All these countries have more potential than we do.

"Our pool of athletes is small. But, according to the numbers we've got, I think our athletes are of quite good quality. We identify the quality athletes, because if you want to go to the Olympics you can't spend your time with athletes that you are 99 per cent sure are never going to make it. That sounds harsh, but that's reality in sport."

Rowing in Ireland in the old days was a little like that.

"Oh, in the old days everyone decided what they wanted to do. And you don't let athletes just tell us what to do, you know?"

In an interview with The Irish Times shortly after he arrived here, he spoke of an "athlete-centred, coach-driven" system. Evidently he still thinks like this. "The athletes are our customers. We want to make sure they perform to the best of their potential. But we lead the process. Because, well, when you're an athlete you are thinking about yourself. You're very selfish; you think about your own development; you don't really care about the broad picture. But we have to. Otherwise it's all ad hoc."

This year saw the return after a year out of Gearóid Towey and the retirement of Sam Lynch after a similar period out of the system. Jahrling was not assuming Lynch would return. "I factor people in when I see them competing against each other," he said.

Towey has been a huge asset since he joined the squad after his attempt to row the Atlantic. He fought to get his weight down and proved impossible to leave out of the top crew, the lightweight four. Jahrling shows how highly he rates him by claiming not to be surprised: "I didn't expect him to come back (into the system) half arsed."

Towey, Lynch and Jennings all won gold medals for Ireland in non-Olympics events in 2001. It gave the sport a high profile. But, looking back, was it really a good year for Irish rowing?

"I don't know what the actual motivation was behind what happened in 2001. At the end you are measured on your results at the Olympics and it didn't work out (in Athens), so you have to say it wasn't really a very successful enterprise. But (had it gone) well, everyone would say 'Wow, we're going to do it again - go for all the non-Olympic medals'. Some people call them the cheap medals - although it is hard to say that of the single scull. I mean there are cheap medals around at times in non-Olympic boats. They are good boats to developOlympic athletes. I am questioning when you put experienced athletes into non-Olympic boats, what that really achieves."

The German doesn't pull his punches when it comes to criticising the domestic system, although he is quick to praise a core of coaches, people like Dominic Casey of Skibbereen, who do wonderful work behind the scenes. But many athletes fall for the lure of being a big fish in the small pond here, Jahrling thinks. He is mystified as to why so few elite athletes have their own coach, and says many who try to move into his system do not understand the demands of being "an elite athlete in our sport" and struggle at first.

"And then everyone is talking about - when someone gets tired - the first word I always hear is 'overtraining'. They are not overtrained - they are tired. People are allowed to be tired. Like a worker is tired, being on the construction site five days a week. In an endurance sport you get tired.

"Overtraining is something completely different. I find athletes have not really a very good concept of what's required outside training. Nutrition, recovery, sleep, use of alcohol, sleeping hours - things like that. I think there's a lot to learn."

The lessons may not be limited to rowing. He was involved in "a couple of discussions" when the nascent Institute of Sport was mooted, but will believe in its good effects when he sees it in operation. His opinion on Ireland's soul-searching after Athens is typically bracing.

"I've seen two Olympic reports: after the Sydney Olympics and after the Athens Olympics. They're quite identical, very similar in what people thought was wrong with Irish sport and what needed to be done. So, we write absolutely the same thing in a report four years later? Why hasn't anything been done? - that's the question. It's not to identify your weaknesses, it is about doing something about them. We can all waffle all day. It makes no difference."

His system has got some in-kind help from Dooley Motors in Carlow (a vehicle) and Dublin City University, who give free training to the athletes, but he thinks support for top-class sport here is way behind 21st-century levels.

What quick and achievable changes would boost his system? He cites better facilities and more technical support - like video analysis and biomechanics.

"You need to be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your athletes. Two or three weeks ago we did our first step test at the NCTC (National Coaching and Training Centre). I've been here for one and a half years. This is appalling. The system wasn't working. No one cared. Everyone was talking (but) no one cared. At the end of the day the success of your work is going to be measured on results, not on how many nice sentences you talk. That is where we can improve."

His frustration with attitudes here seems so genuine you wonder is there any chance he will stay after the Beijing Olympics, when his term ends. "It is too early (to say). It depends on many things. My attitude is if I can see progress and people interested, and us doing what we say we will do, then I'm interested."

Jahrling Speak

"It is absolutely disgraceful what happens here to one of the best Olympic sports in the country. How little people care - that's what I don't understand. Just look around here! The garbage that lies around. No one cares."

- on Irish attitudes and the facilities at Blessington Lake

"I've seen two Olympic reports: after the Sydney Olympics and after the Athens Olympics. They're quite identical. So, we write absolutely the same thing in a report four years later? Why hasn't anything been done? - that's the question. We can all waffle all day."

- on Ireland's Olympic post-mortems