Beijing 2008 Olympians Ramon di Clemente and Shaun Keeling will be pulling for another national title in the heavyweight coxless pairs at the national rowing championships at Roodeplaat Dam this weekend.
At 35, Di Clemente is a veteran of the national rowing scene, with Keeling 12 years his junior.
This weekend’s action will be just another step, make that stroke, in their pursuit of medal glory at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Back in Beijing the pair ended a creditable fifth, just two spots outside the medal podium.
Four years prior to that Di Clemente, who made his Olympic debut 10 years ago in Sydney, and previous partner Ramon Cech took bronze in the Athens Olympics.
Rowing with Cech, Di Clemente has won two silvers and two bronze at World Championships events. And he also won gold at the Commonwealth Regatta in Scotland four years ago.
Both Di Clemente and Keeling are based at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria where they are in constant search of that “perfect stroke” needed for rowing glory. Di Clemente will be gunning for an amazing 13th title in the coxless pairs at Roodeplaat.
Making it that much easier has been the help of Italian rowing guru Gianni Postilione who has been dissecting every aspect of their performance.
Di Clemente told Pretoria News sports editor Lester Mills recently: “Getting everything together in one package is the ultimate goal, of course that hardly ever happens though.
“But we will look to take things step by step and get as close as we can to getting all the aspects of our game right.”
Postilione added his view: “Of course there are things they can improve on, but they are technicalities” and firmly believes the pair have the potential to improve on the Olympic and World Championship successes of recent years.