Xeno Müller: Rage and Resilience
It started with blasting tennis balls past the baseline and wanting to make frothy puddles from his single. And then a 12-year old Xeno Muller began to learn to focus his strength, passion, and rage. It led him to an undefeated college career at Brown, three Olympic appearances (including two medals), and more than 25 years dedicated to coaching rowers to find better technique, and more speed, on the erg.
When we sat down with Xeno, we expected to hear good stories, and insightful opinions. We didn’t realize just how deep the emotions would go.
GUEST
Xeno Müller
elite-rowing-coach.com
FB: /Xenorowingcoach
IG: @online_elite_rowing_coach
This episode was made possible in part by RowSource and our Supporters.
QUICK LOOK
00:00 - Introduction
01:58 - Rowing Week on a scale of 1-10
03:07 - The Huddle
4:19 - Hot Seat Q&A
13:33 - It was a snowy morning when 12-year-old Xeno Müller first got into a boat on the Seine River in Fontainebleau, France
16:06 - At 16, Xeno’s life changed forever the day he met Swiss National Team coach Harry Mahon
20:10 - Coaching his Mom to a hammer win at C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints in 1992
22:48 - Leaving an undefeated Brown University crew to pursue Olympic gold in the 1x
25:16 - Winning gold at the 1996 Olympics made his mom so proud
29:31 - Starting an indoor rowing studio in 2003 to support his family
33:26 - What we’re getting wrong on the erg
35:06 - “Ergs can float”
37:11 - Xeno’s evolving understanding of rowing
39:55 - On the growth of the sport of indoor rowing
41:02 - “The flatwater rowing world is a bunch of anal retentive people who think they know it all…and that’s the limiting factor to the growth of the sport.” Plus why beach sprint and open water rowing could create a bridge
43:42 - The perfect stroke and Xeno describes his own “unbelievably fast” 1994 World Cup race in France
47:54 - Advice for Xeno’s younger self
49:25 - Steady State Network news and notes
Episode Mentions
🎧 = Listen to a Steady State Podcast episode
BOAT MANUFACTURERS
Empacher
CLUBS
Aviron du Pays de Fontainebleau
COACHES
Steve Gladstone
Harry Mahon
Harry Parker
EQUIPMENT
Concept2 🎧
Hydrow
RP3
WaterRower
OLYMPICS
1992 Barcelona Games Men’s 1x
1996 Atlanta Games (gold 1x)
RACES, REGATTAS & ROWS
C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints
French Indoor Rowing Championships
World Rowing Junior Championships
Swiss Indoor Rowing Championships
ROWERS
Ueli Bodenmann
Thomas Lange
Derek Porter
Eric Verdonk
Kajetan Wieniawski
Ollie Zeidler
UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS
Brown University
Harvard University
Steady State Podcast is hosted and edited by Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan. Tara provides additional audio engineering, books show guests, and is our sponsor and donor coordinator. Rachel writes our scripts and e-newsletter, and manages the website and social media. Our theme music is Open Mind by Soundroll.
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