THE SPORT OF ROWING date when America decided to be independent, and she has come forward today to show that the child has overtaken her mother in oarsmanship, The rowing on this occasion has been better than average. Any of the four semi-finalists ordinarily would have qualified for the final.’”1543 “Only four times previously has the cup been taken out of the country, three times by Belgian crews and once by a New South Wales crew. That two visiting American crews were left in the contest for the cup today is a sore blow to British rowing men’s pride, but the Harvard and Union boys all made themselves so popular among the rowing fraternity since their arrival at Henley that their final tussle evoked almost as much applause from English spectators as from transatlantic visitors. “The papers are full of regrets over British defeats, but on the whole the tone of the comments shown none of the acerbity in distress which at one time led to Englishmen being described as sore losers. The Evening News [of London] may be cited as typical: ‘At bottom, let us hope, we always remember we are sportsmen first and partisans afterwards. So at Henley one likes to think that the crowd, when it saw its favorites beaten, joined right heartily in enthusiastic greetings of the victors. “‘Unbroken British supremacy in sport would be a disaster, and the American victory can only make for good feeling throughout the world. We should welcome with generous hospitality all comers ready to try a fall with us on fair terms.’”1544 “An advertisement in The Times of 7 July said: ‘In loving memory of British Rowing, which passed away at Henley on 1543 America’s First Triumph, Associated Press, July 4, 1914 1544 Harvard Oarsmen Capture Grand Challenge Cup, The New York Times, July 5, 1914 1545 Dodd, Henley, p. 120 Saturday July 4th. Deeply lamented by many sorrowing followers, who hereby place their regret on record.’”1545 The “other” Times, that from New York, published an editorial (!) titled “America’s Henley” the day after the final: “It made little difference whether the Union Boat Club’s crew of Boston, composed of Harvard men, or the regular Harvard crew won in the final race for the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley – the cup was for the first time wrested from the British grasp by Americans. But the regular crew’s victory more than atones to its members for the narrow defeat on the American Thames by Yale. “The tradition that a crack English crew can be beaten only by men who have stroked all their lives as the Englishmen do was broken by oarsmen, some of whom had never sat in a shell until they entered college. It is special training, not intuition or ‘being born to it’ or overconfidence that wins boat races. “The Englishmen were overconfident, just as Americans have been overconfident in polo playing. The Roman Senator might wear his toga with a careless grace, but the dress and carriage of the athlete must be ever precise. “The Leander Club might have learned this lesson in 1906, when the Grand Challenge Cup was carried off by the crew from the Club Nautique de Gand of Belgium, and in 1907, when another Belgian crew defeated a strong Leander crew in one of the heats. “The advantage of the American training is not so much in its styles of rowing as in the group work of the men who learn to apply legs and bodies with consistent rhythm from end to end of each forward impulse of the boat. They were 414
