Moe Sbihi looks like a man contented with his lot, even though 2020 has not turned out as he expected. Sitting legs akimbo in the spare room he has newly repainted, Sbihi and his wife Rachael Jefferies are expecting their first child in December, a situation which clearly fills him with delight. It's a boy by the way, confounding Sbihi, who had been sure it would be a girl. He is also back in training with a vengeance after a six-week summer break, and in July he reclaimed the British 2km erg record a few weeks after Tom George had pinched it from him. Life is very good.
Yet this has been a turbulent and difficult summer during which Sbihi's career goal of a third Olympics was put on such a distant back burner that some doubt the Tokyo Games will go ahead at all. In addition, after adjusting to the pressures of lockdown Sbihi lost his talisman coach when Jürgen Grobler retired unexpectedly in late August. Grobler, as readers of the Row360 20th issue cover story (Moody Moe, Oct Nov 2017) will remember, was the one who told Sbihi he was the most difficult athlete the German guru had ever coached. That comment led to a turn-around in attitude which completely altered Sbihi's outlook and rocketed him to the top end of the GB squad, yielding world and Olympic titles. Grobler dropping out of the picture this summer must have rocked his world as much as any in the GB rowing squad, and probably more. “Jürgen doesn't [normally] leave a job unfinished,” says Sbihi mournfully.