The Dual Life of a Cyprus National Coastal Rowing Female Athlete
An Interview with Angela Leonidou By Ollimono Magazine | 10th April 2025
Coastal rowing isn’t for the faint-hearted. It’s fast, physical, and unpredictable. You don’t glide — you fight. Waves hit without warning. Boats turn sideways. And every race feels like an oceanic chess match against nature. “The very moment I tried coastal rowing,” Angela says, “it became an experience that just keeps escalating.”
Inside the relentless rhythm of Angela Leonidou’s life on the sea — and behind the lens
The morning light reflects off the surface of the sea, and she’s already there. Muscles engaged, breath steady, mind focused. The sea is calm… for now… but Angela Leonidou knows better than to trust it. Coastal rowing is like that. It teaches you to be present. To adapt. To push, glide, repeat. And then do it all again the next morning.
Angela isn’t just part of Cyprus’ national coastal rowing team — she’s an emerging force in a sport that demands more than most people can imagine. But there’s more. After her early water sessions, she often trades the oars for a camera, capturing the world with the same intensity she brings to the boat. This is her life: a constant negotiation between performance and passion, pressure and flow.
“It’s been an adventure ever since.”
Angela didn’t grow up on the water. Rowing found her later — through a gym, a rowing machine, and a coach who saw something others hadn’t. She entered a local indoor rowing competition “just to try,” and walked away with two first-place wins. But it wasn’t until she met members of the Limassol Nautical Club that she found her calling.
“They invited me to try the sea,” she recalls. “It’s been an adventure ever since.”
“Coastal rowing is not what people think it is.”
The first myth she’s eager to crush? That rowing is all upper body. “Technique matters more than people think. Power comes from the legs and glutes — about 60% of it, actually,” she explains. “Only 20% is arms.”
And technique isn’t just about winning races — it’s about injury prevention and long-term performance. Angela hasn’t suffered any major rowing-related injuries, but she’s seen what poor form can do. “Rowing can ruin your back — but only if you row wrong,” she says.
Strength is vital. But so is patience. “You have to be consistent, not reckless. Progress in rowing is slow — but that’s the point. It forces you to stay present.”
“I juggle training, photography, and events — but I work well under pressure.”
After morning sessions on the water, Angela doesn’t crash on the couch. She steps into her second identity: photographer. Shoots, edits, meetings — it’s all part of the day. And somewhere between these worlds, she also helps organize rowing events for her club.
With just a small team of three, as they like to call themselves three musketeers, Angela has helped organize the International Coastal Rowing Beach Sprints LNC for three consecutive years—drawing in top athletes from around the world, getting local businesses involved, and steadily building awareness of coastal rowing in Cyprus.
Her schedule is packed. But she doesn’t flinch. “I don’t know how I do it, to be honest,” she laughs. “But I thrive under pressure.”
She doesn’t view her creative work as a counterweight to sport. It’s all part of the same rhythm. Both disciplines demand timing, focus, and vision. One builds the body. The other, the eye.
“Mindset is everything. You need to really want it to get it.”
Angela talks about mindset with the reverence of someone who knows just how far it can carry or fail you. “It’s the number one tool,” she says. “You can have all the physical capacity, but if you’re not there mentally, you won’t make it.”
She’s built her life around structure, but she’s not rigid. “My training is built on routine, but it also includes breaking that routine. That’s how I stay sharp.”
Rest is just as important. Aerial yoga, deep tissue massage, hot-and-cold therapy. And outside of that? Food, friends, enduro biking, and “other water sports — because of course I can’t get enough,” she jokes.
“Competing isn’t always about winning — it’s about feeling proud of yourself.”
For someone competing at a national level, Angela has a surprising softness in how she speaks about success. “Some of my most meaningful races weren’t wins — they were the ones where I felt I gave everything. That I did the best with what I had in that moment.”
She’s candid about small missteps — like once losing grip and veering off-course during a race. But even those become part of the story. “Mistakes don’t define your worth,” she says. “They just show you what to work on.”
“I hope the juniors evolve. I want to be a good support.”
Angela’s passion for rowing extends beyond her own goals. She sees herself playing a key role in the sport’s growth in Cyprus, especially as coastal rowing gains international traction. “It’s still a fairly *new sport, after all. But it’s here to stay.”
*Coastal rowing, officially established as a competitive discipline in 2006 with the first World Rowing Coastal Championships. Set to debut as an Olympic event at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, coastal rowing brings a bold new energy to a sport rooted in centuries of tradition.
She envisions herself coaching, mentoring, staying deeply involved in the years to come — even if her own competitive chapter winds down. “I can’t imagine ever giving up rowing,” she says. “I’ll always be part of it.”
“Balance is everything — but I always make room for food and fun.”
For all her ambition, Angela doesn’t wear hustle like a badge of honor. She values joy just as much as grit. Her rituals are grounded: good meals, good people, and movement that feels good.
She doesn’t chase perfection. She lives in rhythm — rowing with the current, not against it.
Angela’s Coastal Rowing Wisdom – Fast Five
- Worst advice she ever got: “Stop doing so many activities.”
- Best advice she ever received: “Keep doing what you’re doing — you’re an inspiration.”
- Biggest myth about rowing: That it’s mostly upper body.
5 things she wishes she knew earlier:
- How addictive it is
- How demanding it is
- How much time it takes
- How many blisters you get
- The awful tan lines!
3 quick hacks to improve your rowing:
- Listen to your coach — they see your blind spots
- Track your progress
- Be patient
Living the OLLIMONO High-Performance Ethos
Angela Leonidou is a woman in motion — not just through space, but through layers of self. Cyprus Female Athlete. Creative. Mentor. She proves that success isn’t a straight line, but a current — one that pulls you deeper into who you really are.
She rows into the unknown with power and grace, camera in one hand, oar in the other — proof that you can chase big dreams without choosing just one.