Moe Sbihi and Co are pulling in the right direction as GB target a golden 2016

Britain’s top rower on summers in Tangiers, breaking fasts and the disappointment of London 2012

(Getty Images)

The contrast could hardly be starker – the sprawling chaos of Tangiers, where Moe Sbihi would spend six weeks of his summer holidays each year, and the London suburb of Surbiton, where British rowing’s man-mountain grew up.

“For me, it was magical, like a second home,” Sbihi says of Morocco’s gateway to Europe. “In contrast, growing up in Surbiton was like the set of The Good Life.”

Sbihi, a bronze medallist in the men’s eight at London 2012, has gone on to become arguably Britain’s most formidable heavyweight rower.

Since that Olympic bronze – which he recalls as great but also a crushing disappointment for not winning gold – the English-born rower of Moroccan descent has twice been crowned world champion in various crews and is once more in Britain’s top boat, this year the eight, going into the European Championships in Poznan, Poland, today.

On one hand, Sbihi is your typical rower in the sense of his size, ability to endure lung-bursting sessions in training; on the other, he is a one-off as the only Muslim in the current GB set-up.

Prior to London 2012, much was made of the 27-year-old’s religion and the fact he recited the first verse of the Quran before each race. Sbihi admits it is an important part of who he is – both as a rower and a human being.

“I hope more Muslims come into the sport because of it,” he says of the path he has taken in a sport traditionally seen as the preserve of the white middle and upper classes – a generalisation he believes is no longer representative of the British set-up.

A sporting jack of all trades growing up, flitting from tennis court to football pitch, he was “discovered” at the age of 15 when one of GB Rowing’s many talent identification programme’s spotted that his physical attributes might lend themselves to the sport.

He also happened to be a natural at it and enjoyed its physical demands, but rowing and religion have not always seen eye to eye. He first took the decision not to fast during Ramadan in the build-up to London 2012, paying instead for 1,000 meals to be distributed to the disadvantaged and fasting later in the year.

Again this year his fasting will be delayed – not a decision he takes lightly. “My dad was the person I spoke to the most about it,” he says, admitting there was a mixed reaction at the time from wider family members in Morocco, who have become his lead fan base – an unlikely satellite group of support tuning in to GB Rowing’s exploits whenever possible.

Sbihi says he has never encountered “one ounce of prejudice” while involved in GB Rowing. Rather, he and Alex Gregory, who won the British trials, are seen as the benchmark for the heavyweight crews. Sbihi relishes the rivalry within the British camp – “every day is a challenge” – in the knowledge that if you can top your countrymen, “you should be up there with the best in the world”.

This year, the goal is to qualify the eight for next year’s Olympics, for which they need to finish in the top five in Poznan, whereas the four – traditionally the heavyweight men’s top boat – need only finish in the top 11.

For Jürgen Gröbler, the GB head coach, the No 1 focus is on Rio de Janeiro. So, too, for Sbihi as he attempts to make amends for his own personal disappointment from the medal-laden Games of three years ago.

“London as an experience was amazing, the experience of a lifetime,” Sbihi recalls. “But it was disappointing because I had the goal of winning the gold medal.

“You live your life in four-year cycles focusing on this and, much like a boxer, you don’t step into the ring thinking you’re going to get beaten or else you’ve already lost.

“So it was hard to take. But now I’ve had time to think about the fact I’ve got an Olympic bronze medal – and there’s not a lot of people in the world that ever win an Olympic medal.”

On current form, Sbihi is on course to be in Britain’s best boat come Rio 2016 and, therefore, in with the best shot at Olympic gold. The good life, indeed.