THE SPORT OF ROWING Spracklen: “In Britain when I was a lad, everyone rowed at 6 o’clock in the morning, went to work, and went home in the evening. They were amateurs and could only train for a limited amount of time, one or two years, and now they had to compete against professionals.”3076 Paul Massey, stroke of the 1952 British Olympic Bronze Medal Coxed-Four: “The standard of these [Helsinki] Games had risen considerably since 1948. To compete in the Games one has to sign a declaration of amateur status, but this has long been a farce. One is competing against the amateur-professionalism of most other countries . . . The Gold Medalist in the sculling event, a Russian student [Yuri Tyukalov3077] . . . stated that he had been selected eighteen months before the Games started and from that time had been maintained by his government ‘as doubtless your government keeps your athletes,’ he remarked.”3078 Republic Pride Non-Russian athletes and coaches representing the Soviet Union maintained their personal allegiances to their home republics. Alfonsas Mikishis coxed the Soviet Eight that traveled to the United States in 1962:3079 “We are not Russians, but from Vilna,3080 Lithuania. Selection for the international races is made in Leningrad twice a year. There are races between city crews in all classes, and all are eager to represent their republics abroad. “If you are selected there, the work has just begun. Really you must keep your crew together and in condition most of the year long. Even in the winter we practice, using 3076 Spracklen, personal conversation, 2005 3077 See Chapter 86. 3078 Qtd. by Page, p. 106 3079 See Chapter 98. 3080 Vilnius special booths. Then, as competition approaches, we row every day, just resting on Sunday. “We row twice a day, before and after work. We practice both sprints and long trips. “Rowing is just beginning in colleges and institutes. We still get most of our dedicated rowers from sports clubs and factories. “Our season is usually from April, when the ice breaks up, to late November. Even during the frozen months our oarsmen keep in shape by skiing, gymnastics or weight lifting.”3081 American Ted Nash has rowed and coached against Eastern Bloc crews through eleven Olympiads: “The training strategy was big men training very, very hard under the Soviet compulsory structure, and except for that, the organizational system itself was the most important component their of success. And they made it pay because they won so much, in sweep and in sculling.”3082 American coach Allen Rosenberg3083 remembers that the Soviets trained year- round “till they dropped.”3084 The Moscow Style Ochkalenko: “I consider that the 1950s were the most productive for Soviet rowing in the sense of creating a unique style. In 1946, the Krylya Sovetov Eight won their first USSR Championship with a style completely distinct from the others. “And from 1950 the new, international era for the Soviet rowing began.”3085 3081 Qtd. by Lanouette, op. cit., pp. 126-7 3082 Nash, op. cit., 2004 3083 See Chapter 107 ff. 3084 Rosenberg, USRA Clinic, Chula Vista, CA, Sept 11-2, 2004 3085 Ochkalenko, op. cit. 860
