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I’m inclined to agree, rowing IS dominated by kids from privileged backgrounds and that needs to change but that isn’t why he failed.
By and large I’ve felt pretty positive towards Wiggins for most of his career but the rowing idea was doomed from the beginning. I don’t care how good his engine is or was, but I never believed he’d be able to pick up the “feel” you need to row in a good crew in sufficient time. Plus I don’t know what incentive GB rowing would have had to support him? His erg would have had to have been insane (comfortably sub6) before they even considered disrupting the progression of an established crew while he flapped around rocking the boat and sucking up the rhythm.
Wiggo’s comments just sound like sour grapes.
ewanmac
SwissChap
Yeah I mean I'd agree that accessibility is an issue. Investment in rowing equipment and infrastructure is not cheap, to say the least - one could even say it's really bloody expensive. But as I said, there are attempt to change things and perceptions. And I mean, track or road cycling isn't something dominated by poor kids from the estates either, is it? On top of that, he seems to suggest that this elitism he believes to have detected had something to do with him personally not doing well.
This is so bloody aggravating. He could have just said that he overestimated the speed of his improvement in training, or the extent to which rowing differs from cycling, or whatever. He's been so successful in cycling, why the need to shit-talk a sport in which he wasn't able to compete at a national level after just a year??