Learn from a Swede: Johan Flodin, 2013 Coach of the Year

The cover of the Swedish rowing magazine, October 1991: in their boat Joyride, Johan Flodin, in the stroke seat, with Bo Ekros, Per Lundberg and Joachim Brischewski, the Swedish crew who took silver medals at the World Championships in 1991 and 1992.

I was happy to read that a countryman of mine, the Swede Johan Flodin (pronounced: Yohan Flu-deen, stress on the second syllable in his last name) has been named the 2013 World Rowing Coach of the Year by FISA. Although a Swede, Johan received the award as the coach for the Norwegian men’s double sculls (Nils Jakob Hoff and Kjetil Borch) and the lightweight men’s double sculls (Kristoffer Brun and Are Strandli), two crews who became world champions at Chungju in South Korea earlier this year.

Johan was a very successful rower in Sweden back in the day. He has several Swedish championships under his belt and in both 1991 and 1992 he, Bo Ekros, Per Lundberg and Joachim Brischewski took silver at the world championships in the lightweight quadruple scull. In 1992, they also took the Queen Mother Challenge Cup – the first Swedes to ever take a cup at the Henley Royal Regatta (Swedish crews have competed at Henley before, of course, some of them reaching the final, but never won; maybe the most famous crew being Three Towns RC, who lost the Grand to Centre Sportif des Forces de Armee, France, in 1956). Johan was also racing in the Swedish quadruple scull who placed sixth at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Although, Johan has never had a full-time paid position as a coach before taking on the Norwegian National Team in November last year, he coached Frida Svensson for several years which gained her the world title in the single sculls in 2010.

While an active rower in Sweden, Johan rowed for Strömstads RK, a rowing club in the small town of Strömstad on the Swedish west coast, close to the Norwegian boarder. Later, in Strömstad, Johan was the head master for a high school/junior college, which had a special rowing programme for high-level rowing juniors, many of whom have represented Sweden at international regattas like the Junior World Championships, etc.

Read what World Rowing wrote about Johan, who gave a talk at the World Rowing Coaches Conference in Tallinn, Estonia, the other day, here.

Below is an interview that Martin Cross did with Johan at the end of the World Championships in Chungju:

Scandinavian Rowing News

The Swede Johan Flodin has been appointed new Head Coach for the Norwegian National Rowing Team. He will still coach Frida Svensson.

The other day, several newspapers in Sweden had articles about Johan Flodin, the ‘personal’ coach for Frida Svensson, who is one of Sweden’s most successful scullers during the last decade. Starting after New Year’s, Flodin will be the new Head Coach for the Norwegian National Rowing Team, which counts amongst its members the famous sculler Olaf Tufte. To the Norwegian State radio, Tufte says that he is very pleased with the choice of the new Head Coach. ‘We need more discipline within the team and more clear structure about whom is doing what.’ Tufte continues to say about Flodin: ‘He is a fantastic person and an amazing coach who brings tons of knowledge in his luggage’. The Norwegian sculler also mentions that Johan Flodin has been his favourite for a new coach for the Norwegian National Team. For the first time in ten Olympic Games, Norway did not take any rowing medals at the London Games.

Flodin, who coached Svensson to the World Championship title in the single sculls in 2010, is living in Strömstad, a small town on the west coast of Sweden, fairly close to the Norwegian boarder. He is the president of the local rowing club, Strömstad Roddklubb, which is one of Sweden most victorious rowing clubs. Flodin himself is one of the club’s triumphant oarsmen. He is also headmaster for a school in Strömstad, the only educational institution in Sweden that has rowing not only on its programme, but in its curriculum. The school has been the training ground for more than three decades when it comes to feeding promising rowers to the Swedish National Team.

Flodin tells the local newspaper in Strömstad that his contract with the Norwegian Rowing Federation, which will run beyond the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, will allow him to continue to train Frida Svensson. ‘She is welcome to train with the Norwegian National Team on Lake Årungen’, Johan Flodin says to the paper. He is now quitting his job as a headmaster, but will continue to live in Strömstad, with a second apartment in Norway as well.

There have been speculations in Sweden that Flodin would take on the job as the Rowing National Coach for Sweden, since the current coach, Leif Pettersson, will soon leave after he decided to not sign up for a new period. Pettersson only held this position for 18 months.

Lassi Karonen takes a break.

Another blow to the Swedes is that Lassi Karonen just announced that he will take a break from rowing on an elite level during 2013. In a press release published in the Stockholm newspapers, Karonen says that he is looking forward to taking care of his family. Starting at New Year’s, he will stay home with his children for ‘Parental Leave.’ Karonen says that this does not mean that he will not go for the Olympics in Rio. Right now, I need a break, then I will see if I will aim for Rio, he says.