BRITISH ROWING IN THE OLYMPICS 25. Young Jack Beresford 1920 – 1924 – 1928 – 1932 – 1936 – 1939 R.I.P. Steve Fairbairn Young Jack Beresford (1899-1977), “was torn at Bedford School between his father’s beloved rowing (he stroked the VIII) and rugby (he captained the first XV).”1056 When he entered the armed forces during World War I, “he was a prospective England Rugby International,”1057 “but a leg wound ruled out rugby. Dinghy rowing off the Cornish coast during his rehabilitation did wonders for his strength.”1058 After the war, “Beresford followed his father’s example and joined Thames Rowing Club in 1919.”1059 Young Jack’s arrival at Thames coincided with that of Steve Fairbairn and his son, Ian.1060 1920: A Second Beresford Olympic Silver Medal “From the outset, [the younger Jack Beresford] displayed the brilliance of a winner. He won the Wingfield Sculls, the Amateur sculling championship of Great 1056 Nick Mason, At His Fifth Olympics, Jack was the Master, Sept. 22, 2000, www.guardian.co.uk 1057 Keith Osbourne, The Pathway of Progress, 2005 British Rowing Almanack and ARA Yearbook, ARA, London, 2005, p. 255 1058 Nick Mason, op.cit. 1059 www.english-heritage.org 1060 See Chapter 23. Britain, from 1920 to 1926,”1061 this despite the fact that he was not a large man, 5’10” 1.78m, 154lb. 70kg.1062 “In 1920, at the age of only 21, he won the first of his Diamond Sculls and was selected for the Antwerp Olympics. In the final, he met America’s Jack Kelly,1063 who won by a second, still [as of 2000] the tightest margin in the event’s history,1064 in a battle that left both men too exhausted to shake hands.”1065 Journalist and historian Geoffrey Page: “Beresford had a slight lead at the end of one minute and held it until the last 100 meters. Neither man cracked, but the 6 foot 5 inch American, weighing over 14 stone against Beresford’s 11st 4lb,1066 and at 30 years of age Beresford’s senior by ten years, 1061 www.english-heritage.org 1062 Hero of the Past: Jack Beresford, World Rowing Magazine, autumn-winter 2006, p. 6 lists his weight as 154 lb. The 1920 Henley program listed him as 158 lb. 72 kg. 1063 See Chapter 55. 1064 Since 2000, Olaf Tufte of Norway won the Gold in 2008 by 0.44 seconds over Ondrej Synek of Czech Republic. On the women’s side, Yekaterina Karsten-Khodatovich of Belarus won in 2000 by 0.01 seconds over Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria. Nekova won in 2008 by 0.44 seconds over Michelle Guerette of the USA. 1065 Nick Mason, op.cit. 1066 Kelly was actually 6’2” 190cm 13st. 8lb. 86kg. 283
