Interview: Olympic and World rowing champion Mahé Drysdale (NZL)

Mahé Drysdale is a rowing super star. The multiple World champion and Olympic champion from London was training in Slovenia for several weeks before heading to the 2015 World Rowing Championships. This was the second year in a row Mahé and a part of the New Zealand team was training on TiP lake Bohinj. Training in Paradise provided an electric catamaran for the coaches as no other kind of motor boat is allowed in this area.

We caught up with Mahé on a Sunday afternoon. The big man showed us a very kind personality, a strong confidence in his path and his way of going about his business. We could clearly sense his love for the sport and his strong motivation on the way to defend his gold medal Rio. He was open in his answers, of clear opinions, witty at times and fully present  in the moment for the whole duration of the interview. No phones, no looking at the time, focused on the questions and keen to provide extensive answers. His calmness and mindfulness was in a way very similar to what we experienced during the interview with kayaking champion Lisa Carrington a week later.

The interview was an hour and a quarter long and covers the following topics:

• Mahé on his beginnings and the rise of Rowing NZ
• Mahé on racing, winning and his rivals
• Mahé on training
• Mahé on technique
• Mahé’s philosophy
• Mahé about his lifestyle
• Mahé about the winning mindset
• Mahé about Training in Paradise

For easier reading we’ve added the full transcript as a PDF which you can downloaded here.