September 24, 2021 - The 19th Sv. Duje Regatta is back after being postponed due to the coronavirus in May. This weekend's spectacle will feature the always traditional Oxford, Cambridge, and Split legends race and a rematch of the Sydney Olympics rowing final in 2000 when Croatia won bronze and Great Britain gold!
The 19th edition of the International Rowing Regatta Sveti Duje was announced in the festive atmosphere of the Meštrović Gallery, reports Dalmacija Danas.
Ivo Cagalj / PIXSELL
Representatives of organizers and partners attended the press conference: Tomislav Kilić, Vice-Rector of the University of Split, Igor Maretić, Head of the Split Department of Sports, Ozren Kovačević, Director of Key Clients of Le Meridien Lav Hotel, Tomislav Aljinović, Business Center Director Central Dalmatia - OTP bank, Luka Grubor, member of the organizing committee, Oxford legend, Sydney gold Olympian, Rob Baker, head coach of Cambridge via video message and Nikša Skelin, president of the Dalmatian Rowing Federation, member of the organizing committee, Pirate legend, bronze an Olympian from Sydney.
The main event of this year's Regatta will take place on Saturday, September 25. The central stage will be Split's Riva, which will host three rowing races. At 11:00 am, the legends of Oxford, Cambridge, and Split will begin. The student race of the University of Zagreb and the University of Split is scheduled for 11:30 am. As a highlight at noon, there will be a replay of the Sydney Olympics final in 2000, when the gold and bronze Olympic teams will row on the Riva - the eights of Great Britain and Croatia!
The legendary Luka Grubor, who will temporarily replace his business suit with a rowing suit on Saturday, was pleased to announce the Regatta:
"A particular focus in the edition of this Regatta will be on the races on the Riva with an additional duel between Split and Zagreb, which will enrich the racing program. But also, that date coincides with the 21s medal-winning anniversary of the Croatian and British eights at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, where we will have a kind of replay and rematch of that final. I don't know where in the world the Croatia eight have ever gathered again, let alone with their rivals in Sydney.
Also, Split has always been a meeting place for top rowers and top academics and professionals. So far, this has been happening on an informal level, and now I would like to make a Meetup, a conversation about how sport shapes careers, learn from each other to enable a continuous transfer of knowledge to new students and new generations of athletes."
Celebrated Split Olympian Nikša Skelin expects exciting matches on Saturday: “This year we will have a Regatta that will be specific because, in addition to racing on the Riva, we will have the anniversary of Olympic medalists, Great Britain's gold and Croatia's bronze.
It will be one rematch, settling debts that always hang among the rowers, even though we are all friends off the boat. I hope that time and the audience will support us and that we will make a rowing spectacle."
On Saturday, the Riva will gather the legends of rowing, teams that have won and are winning numerous European and world awards, all bound by an unbreakable emotion and love for rowing, Split, and Dalmatia.
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