Sportsmen often talk about making sacrifices, but few can rival Britain’s rowers. IT has taken him from his hometown of Hexham, practically “widowed” a girl he has not even married yet, cut him off from the outside world for weeks and almost worked him into the ground – but Matt Wells loves being an Olympic-class athlete. The 28-year-old will be one of Great Britain’s leading medal hopes when he partners Stephen Rowbotham in rowing’s World Championships, starting tomorrow. But if the pair fail to make the podium in the double sculls, it won’t be for a lack of trying. Wells is speaking a day-and-a-half after arriving in Munich as he recovers from his fourth training session of a trip which, all being well, will see him race on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Before other sportsmen talk about “boot camps”, they should ask Wells about his preparations. “We’ve just been at altitude in Tyrol, in Austria, for three weeks 2,000 feet up in the mountains,” he reveals. “There were no distractions – just the lake and a garage we used as a gym, no television or internet connections. We did 280km a week, plus weights. “In a normal week we train for six-and-a-half days and every third weekend we get a Sunday off, so you get the pictures. We can’t really do anything else. “Jürgen (Gröbler, GB’s chief coach) keeps telling us when the enjoyment’s gone you won’t be successful. There’s days when I’ll say the complete opposite, but in any job you have good and bad days.” Wells appreciates he does not get the worst of it. “My fiancee, Georgie Lewis, does very well,” he says. “She’s a PA to a guy who does market hedge funds and jokes she’s a rowing widow. We’ve been together since 2000.” “Our training is based in a purpose-built facility in Cavesham, Reading. I’ve lived in London since 1998, more just to follow my rowing. I’d ideally have wanted to stay at home. “When I was 17 Hexham probably seemed a bit boring but now I miss the fact it’s a bit quieter. It’s still a trek into Reading from Putney, but I’m resisting moving there.” Wells barely knew Somerset-born Rowbotham until two years ago and even now they are an odd couple. “We’ve only been a pair since April 2006,” says Wells of the 25-year-old Durham University graduate. “Some just hit it off straight away, others take a little bit more time but end up being better. I wouldn’t say we’re a match made in heaven, we’re very different. He’s very intense and training-orientated whereas I’m more technical and racey, more about using my head. We complement each other. It’s always a compromise but it works. “We were in a quad in 2005 but I had a major back injury that year and we went different ways – Alan Campbell wanted to do the single, Matt Langridge went into the eight, then the pair. Steve used to joke we were still a quad, there was just two of us left.” Wells and Rowbotham were first, second and second in this season’s World Cups, which determined the World Championship seedings. A top-11 finish in Munich will book Britain’s place at the Beijing Olympics, but not Wells and Rowbotham’s, who must then undergo April trials. The double sculls is currently rowing’s most competitive event, with Estonia, Slovenia, France and Britain evenly matched. Estonia won the World Cup series by a point from Britain by virtue of their B crew finishing third in the opening final. Having rowed at the Melbourne and Athens Olympics, Wells is a near-certainty for China. Durham’s Jess Eddie rows for Britain in the women’s eight. | 
