Newcastle's unlikely bid for Olympic rowing glory

The rowers at Newcastle University Boat Club are being inspired by the six alumni in the Great Britain squad for Paris

The University of Southern California proudly boasts that if it was a country, it would be 11th in the all-time gold medals rankings at the Olympics.

Newcastle University Boat Club has more modest claims on Olympian grandeur, but if Team GB starts to rake in rowing golds at next month’s Games in Paris, there is a good chance they will have played a prominent part in the success.

Less fashionable than the Oxford and Cambridge clubs, and historically having been in the shadow of neighbours and rivals Durham University, Newcastle will have six former students on duty in the French capital.

Three of them - men’s eight pair Tom Ford and James Rudkin and women’s quadruple sculls member Lola Anderson - are hot tips to win gold after winning their respective World Championships in September.

Ford’s sister Emily will compete in the women's eight, while two more Newcastle alumni, James Robson and Will Stewart, will travel with the GB squad as reserves.

The university has a rich recent history in producing Olympic rowers, with old boy Ed Coode winning gold in the coxless four in Athens in 2004 and Alastair Heathcote taking silver in the men’s eight in Beijing in 2008.

Newcastle alumnus Ed Coode (second left) was a member of the Great Britain team that won gold in Athens in 2004

James Rudkin and Tom Ford (fourth and third from right) are part of the men's eight team who are favourites to win gold in Paris

After topping the medals table in rowing at Beijing, London and Rio, Great Britain failed to win a single gold in Tokyo three years ago, but a resurgence appears to be underway.

The team won nine medals, including six golds, at the World Championships in Belgrade nine months ago.

Heading out on to the River Tyne on a freezing February morning may not hold the same glamour as blades on the feather at Henley Regatta, or the annual university clash from Putney to Mortlake, but Newcastle University Boat Club is increasingly a powerhouse in the sport.

The university took the decision to appoint Italian coach Angelo Savarino as head of rowing in 2005, and that is reaping its reward.

Savarino and his current crop of hopefuls will be tuning in to watch the racing in Paris, inspired by seeing rowers who still keep in touch with their old club going for glory in the nautical stadium in Seine-et-Marne.

Savarino said the success of his former charges has given everyone at Newcastle a lift.

“It’s a fantastic feeling,” he told BBC Look North.

“It’s not just about the fact we have so many alumni there but I’ve been lucky to coach them all when they were students, and to see their development when they join the GB rowing team has been great.”