NAN-S-13
Rowing
Lagos, Jan. 18, 2017 (NAN) The World Rowing body on Wednesday opened to the public the nomination process for the 2017 Thomas Keller Medal, the highest distinction in the sport.
According to Insidethegames, an online portal, the award is given to recognise an exceptional international rowing career.
The portal said that nominations for the award will end on Feb. 13, while the award will be presented to the winner on July 8, at the World Rowing Cup III in Swiss city Lucerne.
It added that the award was named after the late President of the International Rowing Federation, Thomas Keller.
According to the statement, a winner is selected each year by the Thomas Keller Medal Committee which includes Keller’s son, Dominik.
It said the nomination follows a broad international process, including public nominations, with the aim to ensure that the values in which Keller believed are represented.
The portal noted that five factors were taken into consideration when awarding the Thomas Keller Medal, including success at international level “type’’ of career, technical mastery of the sport.
Others are sportsmanship and “legendary’’ aspect.
It recalls that Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand both became recipients of the Thomas Keller Medal in 2016.
It said that the identical twins formed a successful woman’s double sculls; winning two Olympic titles in a career that saw them dominate their field through much of the 2000s.
It noted that the twins are considered influential figures in helping to inspire many New Zealand high school students to take up rowing, especially women.
The publication said that the award was first given in 1990 to Norwegian great Alf Hansen, the double sculls gold medallist with Brother Frank at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
Born in 1924, Keller was elected President of FISA in 1958 as a 34-year-old and was then the youngest-ever head of an International Sports Federation. (NAN)
KOA/ENN/PDE
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(Edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Peter Ejiofor)