Port of Los Angeles, Calif., - March 4, 2008 – The University of Southern California has won its fair share of Olympic medals in men’s rowing with gold in 1956 and 1964 and bronze in 1960 but never before has the university played host to another nation’s Olympic team.


The Estonian Olympic Rowing team trains at the Port of L.A.

That all changed this winter when the Trojan Navy welcomed the Olympic Rowing team from Estonia onto its home waters.

Estonian head coach Matti Killing accepted the invitation from USC to bring his sculling squad to Los Angeles to escape the frigid conditions in Parnu, Estonia, where the rivers are frozen.

“Typically the Estonian rowers would cross-train by doing cross-country skiing at this time of year,” said USC head coach Gene Kininmonth. “However, despite the cold winter in their homeland there was no snow this year due to the global drought. We were delighted to accommodate them.”

The Estonian men’s sculling squad qualified for the quadruple sculls event for Beijing with a successful result at the 2007 World Rowing Championships.

Sculling is different from rowing in that in sculling each athlete has two short oars, whereas in rowing the athletes each row with just one longer oar.

The Estonian Rowing Federation selected the USC Boathouse as its winter home because of the vast expanse of protected waterways through which they could row up to 70 kilometers a day in warm temperatures and also its proximity to the nearby snow fields in Running Springs to train on cross-country skis.

Coach Killing said his six scullers have made significant improvements to their rowing during their stay. “We have been able to row a lot of quality miles and I believe this will be reflected in positive results in Beijing,” said Killing.



USC captain Adam Fish said the daily presence of the Estonian oarsmen has been a great inspiration to his fellow Trojan rowers. “Hosting a group of Olympians such as this has been a very up front and personal look at what it takes to train at the highest level of our sport. It has been an honor for us to be able to host an Olympic team from another country and we wish them the very best in Beijing,” said Fish.

The Estonians will return home on March 9th. The Beijing Olympics take place August 8-24, 2008.