Matt Gotrel's sporting career has gone full circle, from the international youth sailing circuit, to gold medal-winning Olympic rower to grinder for INEOS TEAM UK. Matt has achieved a lot and has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
Q&A
Who inspired you to start sailing?
My dad and grandfather both inspired me to start sailing.
First boat?
RS 200
First sailing club?
Draycote Water.
When did you know you wanted sailing to be a career rather than a hobby?
When I was about 17, in the British Youth Sailing team, I just wanted to go full time sailing and dreamt of going to the Olympic Games one day. I didn’t realise sailing would ever be a career!
What do you love most about sailing?
Being outside, being on the water and being powered by the wind, by nature it’s an incredible feeling.
What has sailing taught you?
Not to worry about things you can’t control.
Favourite ever sailing race?
San Francisco SailGP in season 1, it was the first race SailGP GBR won.
How do you know when you have good form?
Because it’s easy, things come easier, the decisions you make come off.
How do you keep going when you're on the limit?
I never want to let my team mates down, so if I ever get close to the limit, I know I can’t stop. I can’t let them down.
Career highlight?
Winning a Gold Medal in the Men’s Eight in Rio 2016.
If you weren't a sailor, what would you be?
A rower!
Best advice?
You can always find reasons not to do things.
What other sports do you play now?
Grinding is pretty much all I do at the moment. I try and stretch the legs on the Golf course every now and then, but I wouldn’t call it playing golf!
How do you spend your time when you are not sailing?
Training in the gym and walking the dog (a German short haired Pointer) at home in the beautiful Cotswold’s where there are lots of fields and the occasional cosy pub to stumble accross.
Do you support any particular charities?
I’m not affiliated with any particular charity but have a close connection with the Bone Cancer Research Trust .
Favourite quote / Mantra?
To dare is to do (borrowed from Spurs!).
Growing up as a boy in Gloucestershire, Matt loved being outdoors. Despite not living particularly close to the water, he started sailing aged 8, honing his skills on the lake with his father and competing in the RS Racing Circuit. The passion for sailing firmly ignited, he dreamt of one day sailing in the Olympics. After years of practice, hard work and dedication at aged 16, he joined the British Youth Sailing 29er Squad and spent the next two years on the international youth sailing circuit, before graduating into the 49er and the British Sailing Team, where he continued to compete internationally for 2 years.
At that time the British Sailing Team had just topped the medals table at the Beijing Olympics and were going from strength to strength and so, with competition for the one Olympic spot at an all-time high, Matt’s team mate decided to take a break from the sport. Matt also decided to take some time out and was admitted to Loughborough to study engineering.
It was during his first year at university that Matt first began rowing. A complete novice to the sport, but with good physique from his years of sailing, and time spent cycling around the Cotswold hills, he soon discovered he had a natural talent for the sport and threw himself into it wholeheartedly, travelling to Nottingham Rowing Club every day to train. In 2012, after three years at Loughborough, a university not particularly known for its rowing team at the time, Matt was part of the team that topped the Medal Table at the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Regatta, before going on to win the illustrious Henley Royal Regatta. These successes led to a call up from the GB Rowing Team where he made his debut at the European Championships in Italy later that year.
From team spare in his first year, he went on to win two successive World Championship gold medals as part of the Mens Eight , in 2014 and 2015 and then an Olympic gold in Rio 2016. To an outsider, the impressive medal tally would make it seem as though the team dominated the sport, but these victories were hard fought. The team were locked in close competition with a German team, who were unbeaten in the four years between Beijing and London 2012.
It was during this time he really learned how to dig deep and push himself to the limits for the good of the team; “We won races by centimetres not meters. Often you cross the line and are not sure whether you have won or lost it’s that tight. It’s those moments where its heart in the mouth type stuff and you keep going even though your body is screaming at you to stop. Coming into Rio we hadn’t won a race all year, but we knew how to get it done on the big day.”
After realising his childhood dream of not only competing in the Olympics but also winning gold, albeit in a different sport than initially planned, Matt was unsure of where to look for his next challenge. “I was very lucky to be able to join the Great Britain Rowing Team and achieve an Olympic medal in such a short space of time. It was a tough decision not to carry on, but the programme is just relentless. You have one day off every two to three weeks, doing three training sessions a day, you buy into it and that’s how it is. At the end of the day, you are doing it for a gold medal and once you have achieved that, it’s difficult to get the motivation to do it all over again.”
© HARRY KH
“The way I see it, I got a degree in rowing with a little bit of engineering on the side,” said Matt, and so after Rio he decided to put this other degree into good use, working in the Civil Aerospace division of Rolls Royce. It was there that a call came from Chris Draper, CEO for the British SailGP team who wanted Matt to join as a grinder. Matt jumped at the opportunity to return to competitive sailing and he soon found himself at the front of the F50.
Matt caught the eye of many in his first year back sailing and another call came, this time from INEOS TEAM UK and a meeting with Sir Ben Ainslie quickly followed. Now a full time member of Britain’s challenge to win the 36th America’s Cup he is delighted to be part of the team.
© Harry KH
“The boats themselves are amazing, the technology and the speed is incredible. Sailing has changed a lot since I left the sport eight years ago so it was a steep learning curve I missed being in the training environment where you have a team pushing hard together for one goal and it’s great to have that again here."
"It’s a really impressive set-up and I’m just going to work hard on supporting the team the best I can. Hopefully I’ll also be able to put my engineering experience to good use as well, there is a lot of incredibly exciting work going on here with lots of opportunities to get involved.”
© C GREGORY