SAUER Martin

General
MEN'S EIGHT
He was the oldest member of the German men's eight crew preparing for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, for which he has taken on a leadership role. "I don't expect our guys to think about the boat 24 hours a day, but from the moment we set foot in the boathouse, I expect them to be thinking of nothing else." Prior to the 2016 Olympic Games, he said he liked to think of the German's men's eight as a mixture between a bulldozer and a Ferrari. "The German media often compares us to an engine, or a motor of a car and how we're this 'machine'. I hate this, it loses the humanity behind the boat. It's a special thing for me to be working with this crew of very motivated, very talented guys. I've sometimes described the dynamic as a mix between a bulldozer and a Ferrari, ultimately hard-working and brutal, but really elegant too. Very beautiful and very fast." (rowglobal.com, 27 Apr 2016; abendblatt.de, 27 Jul 2019)

LOSING GOLD IN RIO
After winning gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the German men's eight won silver behind Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. He believes one of the reasons why they were beaten was due to German officials selecting accommodation for the rowers that was too far from the course, which affected their preparations. "It was a catastrophe you could see coming. The British team had a gentle stroll to the regatta course, while we had to sit in a bus for up to two and a half hours." (abendblatt.de, 27 Jul 2019)