BRITISH rowing, already resigned to losing Matthew Pinsent from its ranks, has been targeted by the Chinese for the Beijing Games in 2008.

Jurgen Grobler, head coach of the men’s squad for the past 12 years and coach to both Pinsent and Steve Redgrave through four golden Olympics, has been approached by the Chinese Rowing Federation to mastermind their rowing programme for the next four years.

Grobler, who has guided his oarsmen to gold in every Olympics since 1972 (with the former East Germany and Britain), would have been granted unlimited funds and a four-year deal worth nearly £300,000 (almost three times his current contract with the Amateur Rowing Association) as part of the host nation’s assault on the medal table in Beijing.

Grobler, though, revealed yesterday that his priority after Athens was to build a new British team for the 2008 Games. “I want to demonstrate that I can make a team without Matthew or Steve (Redgrave), that I’m not running away,” he said. “No less than the athletes after a major Games, a coach has to ask himself what is the motivation, and for me it is once more to win gold in Beijing. We have a lot of talented young rowers in the programme — not enough, of course — but we can still be strong. I’m really happy here. For me, money is not everything.”

The British squad has already been depleted by the departure of Ed Coode, and Pinsent is set to announce his retirement from the sport at the end of the month to pursue a career in the media, business and sports politics. Of the other two members of the coxless four who won gold in Athens, James Cracknell, the double gold medallist, is likely to take a year away from rowing to concentrate on his new family and opportunities in the media, but could well return in time for the world championships on Lake Dorney near Eton in 2006. Steve Williams, the youngest member of the Athens crew, is set to continue to Beijing. Alex Partridge, who suffered a collapsed lung just six weeks before Athens, is already back in training.

Though Pinsent has yet to announce his decision officially, privately he has told teammates that he will not be in Beijing. Grobler, who has coached Pinsent to four gold medals and 10 world championships during the past 14 years, said: “Physically, Matthew could easily continue for another four years. He can even get better. But it would be a mental thing and a question of what he wants to do with his life. He’s 34 and he can’t live for rowing forever. Whatever happens, he has to be committed. He shouldn’t continue just because he wants to match Steve’s five gold medals, that wouldn’t be the right motivation and he can’t do it half-hearted: ‘I must go and see the Queen, I have to play golf for three days’.”