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Wow, saying that he is delusional just because he claims that he worked the hardest, is way beyond what I thought could be said about the guy.
What you are saying is that, although he was preternaturally gifted, his talent only magically appeared as he hit puberty. Didn't we start the discussion by saying that if you don't beat 15 yo by the time you are 8, you don't have the "it" factor?
The fact that he had some of the best results in his region doesn't really mean anything. Maybe everyone else that came before him was just shit (not unusual in a sport where you need to have a technical understanding of how to practice it vs blindly putting down power like in cycling).
"most centralised rowing system in the world" doesn't equate to "best place in the world to become a winning rower". It just means that everything is closer together
Whopper-
I said at worst delusional. I think it's a harmless but incorrect assumption - one which is easily forgiven considering the incredible self-focus required to be successful at an elite level.
But regardless of the rest of the other detail (I read one article), the assumption he makes between his success in the boat and his training approach does not put him in a position to comment on how much / hard / effectively the rest of the elite rowing world trained compared to him, especially as a meaure of their professionals failing to beat him.
youramericanlover
A great example until this editorial. From this one article it looks like to me he didn't 'fill out' until he left school. However already he had amazing results for his region. "Based in Cambridge since 2006, he believes the quaint town offers "the most centralised rowing system in the world".
I take this as preternatually gifted youngster blooms late developing developing the muscle mass required, then goes to one of the best place in the entire world to become a winning rower. His ancedotal evidence ('I worked the hardest') of how hard all rowers work compared to how hard he worked is spurious at best, delusional at worst.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/rowing-skinny-teen-went-on-to-mine-olympic-gold/P3AHPL55TWCHHEICYJNXSY666A/