“It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is. It’s a symphony of motion. And when you’re rowing well, why it’s near perfection. And when you near perfection, you’re touching the Divine. It touches the you of yous. Which is your soul.” These words, written by George Yeomans Pocock, one of the most influential figures in 20th-century rowing, set the tone for the spirit we encountered along the banks of the Po River in Turin.

The Sebago Rowing Cup offered a chance to explore two inner worlds inspired—and shaped—by one of the most introspective yet collective disciplines in sport. Valentina Rodini and Alessandra Montesano share both part of the Italian national team history, and both modern-day pioneers who have brought women’s rowing in Italy to Olympic heights once deemed unreachable.

In the festive gathering of rowers and cultures that filled Turin’s iconic Murazzi, these two athletes guided us to the very core of rowing—an athletic art form that, as Pocock believed, can bring us closer to our truest selves when cultivated with discipline and passion.

Valentina Rodini

“I started in Cremona — right on the Po River, the same river we’re rowing on today. I began with the Canottieri Bissolati club and, step by step, I made it into the national team. After joining the Olympic squad and the Fiamme Gialle (the Italian sports group affiliated with the finance police), I chose to race in the lightweight category — my natural class — and eventually won Italy’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s rowing at the Tokyo Games. Being at the Sebago Rowing Cup feels like being at home. The Po River is where I started — it’s where I live. And Turin is a magical city. Every year it hosts two major winter head races in a breathtaking setting. It’s a historic city, rich with meaning and values that mirror those of our sport. Seeing a brand like Sebago involved here is particularly significant because it shows that companies, too, recognize and share the values of rowing: sacrifice, loyalty, teamwork, and elegance.

Rowing is timeless — that’s the real magic of it. The values of sport reach back to ancient history. They’re the same values we uphold today, and the same ones we’ll continue to pass on in the future. In my athletic journey, three key words have always guided me: mind, body, heart. If even one of those pillars is missing, everything collapses. You train your mind, because without it, you won’t last long. You train your body, because a strong mind without a prepared physique won’t take you far. And you train your heart — because if you don’t love what you’re doing, if you’re not having fun, you’ll never be able to endure the sacrifice.

Wearing the Italian national jersey means carrying values with you. The uniform should never be underestimated. When you’re representing Italy at the Olympics, you’re not just Valentina — not just an athlete. You’re representing an entire nation. The colors matter. Elegance matters. Because when you walk in the Olympic ceremony, every eye is on you. And rowing is such a noble, elegant sport… I’m proud to have been part of one historic feat like winning the first-ever Olympic gold in lightweight rowing. That proves that women’s rowing is here. Women are here. And we’re just as capable as anyone else. If I made it — and I’m not particularly tall or especially strong — then any woman can make it. We all can.”

Alessandra Montesano

“I’ve always been immersed in the world of sports. I started out with athletics as a child. Right from the beginning, I learned to treat fatigue as a real friend: I used to run the 400 meters, and I loved that feeling of testing myself, of staring effort in the face… that adrenaline rush that pushes you beyond your limits. I grew up close to the Canottieri Eridanea rowing club near Casalmaggiore, surrounded by great champions like Simone Raineri, Olympic gold in Sydney, and Gianluca Farina, gold in Seoul in the quadruple sculls. For years, people kept telling me: ‘Try rowing, you’ve got the physique and the mindset.’ So, in 2012, I gave it a shot. That first training session was a true revelation—two hours of rowing technique, where every detail of the motion is corrected and refined. When I walked out of that session, I knew rowing was the sport of my life.

I fell in love with the effort it demands, with the commitment needed to improve and achieve results. It shaped my entire approach to life: every part of my personal, professional, and sporting life is guided by that philosophy. Rowing gave me far more than a sports career — it helped me discover who I really am, shaping both my identity and character. It’s a sport that goes far beyond performance. It shows you who you truly are, confronting you with yourself, without illusion. You discover both your strength and your limitations. In my view, some of the sport’s most essential qualities are resilience, endurance, and also balance. You have to learn to understand and respect your limits. Overcoming them is part of the journey — but without burning yourself out.

The movement of rowing is a fusion of dynamism and elegance. It’s a technical discipline, linear and circular at once… The more effortless it looks, the more it means the athlete is performing to perfection. When the motion appears smooth and easy, it means the body is working just right — with powerful leg drive and a clean stroke. Despite the exhaustion, the sweat, the struggle, and the lactic acid, rowing maintains a purity and grace in its movement. That very elegance is what captivated me more than anything.

In rowing, tradition and modernity are inseparable: you can’t understand the present — much less build the future — without looking to the past. When I was on the national team, we were part of the first Italian women’s Olympic crew. At Tokyo, we placed fourth — a historic milestone for Italian women’s rowing. For the first time ever, a senior women’s crew had qualified for an Olympic final. If someone had told us, just a few months before the Games, that we would come in fourth, we would have signed up for it in a heartbeat. It was an incredible journey of growth, with results confirmed even in World Cup races — despite those who said we weren’t technical enough, tall enough, or strong enough. It was a big responsibility, but also a spark that helped ignite a women’s movement that we now hope to pass on to the next generation.

A fundamental part of my relationship with this sport is gratitude: I truly believe in being thankful — for what you have, for what you do, especially when it opens you up to new possibilities. During my college experience in the United States, at Iowa State University, I realized I was part of something bigger than myself — a sporting movement that enriches you emotionally and personally. The secret lies in falling in love with the process, not just the outcome. Everyone wants to be on the podium. Everyone is deeply competitive, me too. And everyone wants to break records — but if you learn to love the path that gets you there, then growth becomes the real victory. Not just in sport, but in life.”