C Final – 4th August
Sanita comfortably won the C final in the Women’s Single Sculls, almost eight seconds ahead of second placed Micheen Thornycroft. This result places Sanita 13th overall in the event. This was a a great performance to end her London Olympics – we are all very proud of her, and wish her and her family the very best for the rest of the summer. We look forward to seeing Sanita build on this performance over the coming months and years as she competes again on international waters!

Semi-final C/D – 2nd August
Sanita won her C/D semi final very comfortably this morning, coming in a clear 10 seconds ahead of the next sculler, Da Costa of Brazil. This means that she will race in the C final, in which scullers compete for the 13th-18th positions in the competition.

Looking at the times of the A/B semi finals also rowed this morning, it’s clear that on times alone, she ranks somewhere in the top 10. However as noted below, her Quarter Final was a particularly strong field, and as a result she didn’t make her way into the B final, which would have been for places 7th-12th. We wish her the very best for the C Final.

Quarter final – 31st July
Sanita put in a fine performance, narrowly missing out on progressing to the Olympic Semis. 
The first 3 home in the Quarter would go through with the Swedish and Czech scullers widely fancied to top the race having been World Champions in 2010 and 2011.

Sanita had been beaten by the American Sculler in the field earlier in the season and it was reckoned that the final qualification place would be between them, with Sanita needing to reverse the previous result.

Sanita had a fast start and was leading for quite a while, with the American back in 5th. 
The Czech sculler came through to win the race as expected but it was the US athlete who put in the best performance on the day, coming through to take 2nd at the expense of the Swedish sculler with Sanita in 4th by about 4 seconds, just missing out.

She gave it absolutely everything and it is telling that her time would have placed her 3rd in all 3 of the other Quarter Finals thereby quailfying her for the Semifinals 
(In fact she was 8 and 16 seconds faster than the 3rd place athletes in two of the other Quarters).

When Sanita looks back at the calibre of those drawn in her race and the times posted compared to the other races I am sure she will realise how well she acquitted herself. 
She did herself and us proud and hopefully she will have a real go at the C Final in which she would appear to be the stand-out athlete.

1st Round Heat – 28th July
Sanita placed third in her heat, comfortably qualifying for the quarter finals, which will take place on Tuesday 31st.

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Sanita’s heat is at 1330 hrs GMT on Saturday 28th of July. Results will be posted here in due course.

There was a great response to the appeal to support Sanita in her Olympic bid. As well as donations received from members of Old Collegians, we received donations from current and previous oarsmen and oarswomen from clubs across the country. Sanita is very grateful for everyone’s assistance, and has asked that this message from her be shared.

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Hi all,

I wanted to say you all a few words before leaving for London in two days’ time. Firstly I wanted to thank every one of you that have been supporting me since I joined the club, although it was only four years ago so many things have happened and changed. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that I could qualify for London Olympics in just over three and a half years from having our youngest child and that I would be preparing now for the biggest event in any athletes sporting life. I always had that feeling inside me that I was capable of achieving something more and I did not want to spend the rest of my life thinking, what if?

I was taking one step at the time and the dream kept coming closer and closer and it didn’t look so unrealistic any more. Of course there were times when it was not easy and we had to face some difficulties, but I kept saying – “If you give up on your dreams, what’s the point in doing anything in your life!”. And I guess that’s what kept me going, the Dream.

A lot of what I did and achieved would not be possible without the support from people around me and especially from Old Collegians. I want to thank Phil O’Keeffe for coaching and guiding me back in to competitive rowing, Paul Romeril for helping out with the equipment, Murrough, James, Barry for being there and supporting. There is one man that deserves a very big thanks from me and it’s John O’Keeffe, ever since I joined Old Collegians he is always been there, helping me along the way. I know there are a lot more people that I have not even met but they have been supporting me on this incredible journey and I hope to meet you all one day and thank you.

I will do the best I can in London, I will fight for every place and hopefully make you proud.

Kind Regards,
Sanita

Sanita Puspure – Ireland’s only rowing competitor in London 2012

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Please take a moment to read this…

Born in Riga in Lativa, Sanita and her husband Kaspar came to Ireland in 2006, when Kaspar took up work as a technician with CR Technics in Dublin Airport.

Sanita had already excelled as a oarswoman in Latvia, among other things winning a bronze medal in the single scull event in the U23 World Championships.

Sanita competing for Old Collegians 

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As readers may be aware, since its formation in 1936, aside from it’s status as an alumni club, it has been a core aim of Old Collegians to support the growth of rowing at all levels in Ireland. So we were delighted to welcome Sanita to Old Collegians, which at the time was home to a group of elite women scullers who were competing at the highest level, nationally and internationally.

Under Phil O’Keeffe’s guidance as coach, Sanita went on to win multiple national championships in both single and double sculls, as well as winning in 2x and 4x in Henley.

These years also saw Sanita and Kaspar settle down and make Ireland their home. Sanita’s application for Irish citizenship was approved and with their two lovely children, Patrick (5) and Daniela (4), they moved to Iniscarra in Cork to be near the National Rowing Centre.

‘go mammy!’ – Sanita & family in Lucerne after Olympic qualification

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Sanita and Kaspar have sacrificed a lot to reach this moment, and Kaspar has effectively put his career on hold, to prioritise Sanita’s training regieme. In this final few weeks running into the event, they could really do with our help. While Sanita’s needs as an athlete are being taken care of by the Rowing Union, we can significantly help Sanita to focus on her performance by supporting her family in time running up to her competing.

On behalf of Old Collegians, could I ask that you consider giving what you can to Sanita and her family, and could as ask that you do this as soon as possible, as we are keen to get funds to them as soon as we can. Needless to say, every cent we get will be passed on.

With many thanks for your consideration,

James Kelly
Captain, OCBC
 

the simplest way to pay is via PayPal;

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To assist by cheque, please make cheques out to ‘Old Collegians Boat Club No. 1 Current Account’ and posted to:

Sanita Appeal
The Treasurer – Old Collegians Boat Club
36 Adair
Sandymount Avenue
Dublin 4
Ireland

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If you would like to make bank transfer, please email Barry Smith the Treasurer at treasurer (at) oldcollegians.ie , and he’ll inform you of account details.

Sanita with her Fillippi single scull kindly provided by Paul Romeril

As many readers may know, since its foundation, a core goal of Old Collegians has been to support the growth of rowing in Ireland in general. Whilst the Club’s main focus has always been the support of UCD Boat Club and UCD oarsmen,we also look to support Irish rowing outside the walls of UCD Boathouse when we can.

In recent years, OC has had a small number of elite women scullers and they were joined some years ago by Sanita Puspure. Sanita was born in, and represented Latvia at Under 23 level but had been living in Ireland for many years, where both of her children were born. Having joined OCBC Continue reading →