Månedens atlet kåret af FISA

Juliane Elander Rasmussen

World Rowing: Where are you at present and where will you be for the month of July?
Juliane Rasmussen: Today, the 1st of July, the Danish Olympic team arrived at Hotel Krone in Völkermarkt, Austria. We will go directly to London from here. We stay here until going to the Olympics on the 25th of July. It’s the 7th time I’m spending my summer here, so it feels like coming home when I arrive here. 
 
WR:  What is your background in rowing?
JR:  A friend of mine had a brother in the local rowing club and I had just stopped horseback riding. My friend and I went to the club together. We had a lot of fun rowing on the sea in the big boats. But then I tried the racing boats. I loved the speed in those boats and I lost my heart to the sport.
 
WR: What made you decide to continue in the sport to an elite level?
JR: I had a coach in my club who believed in me! I rowed my first regatta in the single at age 17. I thought it was too late to get into elite rowing. At the regatta I was in the middle of the field with the more experienced girls. Even though I didn’t win a medal, it got me hooked.
 
WR: You have been a regular at indoor rowing competitions and hold some records - what are they?
JR: Because of bad weather conditions in Denmark we use the ergs a lot during the winter and in the summertime a lot of wind often forces us to use the ergs. I’m better at the longer distances and have a record from a competition in Amsterdam, the Ergohead: 5431m in 20min (a 1:50.4 split). My one-hour record is 1:54.1 split/500m. My fastest 2km is 7:04.0, set at the Danish National Championships in 2007.

WR:  Are you a full-time athlete?
JR: In the Olympic season I am almost a full-time athlete. I work eight hours a week in a kindergarten focused on sport. Together with former Olympic rower Sarah Lauritzen, and two other partners, I’m a partner in “Athletes Own Sportswear” making rowing clothes.

WR: You have been the mainstay in the lightweight double for Denmark, how does the double get selected?
JR: We are selected by the national team coach. After 2009 I needed a partner for the double and I asked (by email) Anne (Lolk Thomsen), who had just had stopped kayaking. I asked her if she would try to qualify for the Olympics in the double with me. We started from scratch with the technique, but Anne was strong and in good shape and she had the drive. It was a wild, but a very motivating project. In February 2011 we were the strongest lightweight women and we were selected for the national team. Anne’s very first time sculling was together with me, three years ago. 

WR: When were you selected to be the lightweight double for the London Olympics?
JR: Since we were selected for the national team we have had a good idea that we would be the crew. We felt like we were selected when we qualified the boat by finishing eighth in Bled at the World Rowing Championships in 2011. We have had a good season so far in 2012. It was very low key when we got officially selected.

WR: What is the interest like in Denmark leading up to the Olympics? Has there been media interest in you and Anne?
JR: Because of the unusual partnership with Anne being a former Olympic kayaker, we have had some good interest from the media and now we can feel the interest rising, that the Olympics are just around the corner.

WR: Are you a natural lightweight or do you work at getting to weight? 
JR: I think I am a natural lightweight rower – too small to be good among the heavyweights but, of course, I have to lose weight in some periods.

WR: What do you do to get your mind off rowing?
JR: After having Vera, who is now two years old, my favourite things to do is spend time with our little family, with her and Mads (Rasmussen from the Danish lightweight men’s double sculls). We have Vera and my mother with us on camps, which is perfect to get my mind a bit off rowing.

WR: Describe your typical day at present.
JR: We wake up at 7am if Vera allows us but often earlier. Then we eat breakfast all together if the night has been good and the wake-up wasn’t too early. We leave home at 8.30am where we go to the kindergarten with Vera on our way to the lake. If we train twice we stay at the rowing centre eating lunch and resting before the next training. Around 15:30 we pick up Vera and go home to the rowing club (DSR, Danske Studenters Roklub/ Danish students rowing club) where we live, in an apartment on the top of the club.

http://www.worldrowing.com/athletes/juliane-rasmussen