Donovan Cech

Donovan "Donnie" Cech (born May 2, 1974 in Cape Town ) is a former South African rower who, together with Ramon di Clemente, won the Olympic bronze medal in two without a helmsman in 2004.

Athletic career

Cech and Clemente finished eleventh at the 1998 World Championships . The following year they won the B final at the 1999 World Championships and qualified seventh overall for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney . At the Olympic regatta, the two reached the A-final and were sixth in the Olympics. In 2001 the two South Africans won the World Cup for the first time in Munich . At the World Championships in Lucerne, the British Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell won ahead of the Yugoslav two and Cech and Clemente. The following year, the two South Africans received the silver medal behind the two British at the World Championships in Seville . In 2003 in Milan, the Australians Drew Ginn and James Tomkins won ahead of the Croatian brothers Siniša and Nikša Skelin , Cech and Clemente received the bronze medal. The same finish took place a year later in the final of the Olympic Games in Athens . In 2005 the New Zealanders Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater won the World Championships in Gifu ahead of Cech and Clemente. At the 2006 World Championships in Eton , Cech and Clemente missed the A-final at the season highlight for the first time since 1999 and placed seventh. In 2007 in Munich , Cech and Clemente took fifth place again.

1.98 m tall Donovan Cech rowed for the Old Edwardian Boat Club out of Houghton Estate , Johannesburg .

Web links

• Donovan Cech in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Donovan Cech at Worldrowing.com ( FISA database )