The Beijing Olympics will be the first Games in 24 years not to feature one of Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent or James Cracknell, but Britain’s rowing greats will still have an input in China this summer. Jürgen Grobler, the coach, will attempt to utilise all of their experience and success (a haul of 11 gold medals) to inspire the team.

Cracknell has been at the training camp in St Moritz during the past few days at Grobler’s invitation, with the German hoping that a relatively inexperienced squad will pick up some practical tips, but also some of the confidence of the double gold medal-winner. The only Olympic champion in Grobler’s squad is Steve Williams, a member of the coxless four with Pinsent and Cracknell in Athens in 2004, and he admits to being one of the quieter figures.

On top of Cracknell’s input, Redgrave has previously addressed the crews to talk about how he would suffer from sleepless nights on the eve of finals, while Pinsent could explain about how he used to vomit out of the boat shortly before big races. “If they hear this stuff from the guys who have been there and done it so many times, it can help them to feel better about their own anxieties,” one member of the camp said. “And it cannot do any harm to hang around with winners.”

Williams remains in the four that, with Andrew Triggs-Hodge, Peter Reed and Alex Partridge, won in the World Championships in 2005 and 2006 before slumping to an unexpected fourth place in Munich last September. Grobler will not commit to sticking with that quartet in the flagship boat until after further trials this spring, but he is expecting Williams and Partridge, the more vulnerable pair, to bounce back.

“The four, they have been our best athletes,” he said. “They didn’t finish as expected [in Munich], but over the past three years they have had great success, so we carry on to make the four our first boat.

“They are fighting hard for their seats and, as long as the others are trying to catch them, then that can also make the pair and eight stronger.”

As coach of East Germany before Great Britain, Grobler’s crews have won a gold medal at every Olympic Games since 1972, excluding the 1984 boycott. It is a record that will be vulnerable in China after the retirement of the top oarsmen, but Grobler is committed to his job until London 2012.

“A lot of coaches finish with their biggest success,” he said. “They move on, but I want to help a new generation to follow Matthew, James and Steve. We often ask, ‘Is it the athlete? Is it the coach?’ Well that is a challenge, a big motivation for me.”

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