THE SPORT OF ROWING way to row and not as efficient as what I had learned myself. “Karl Adam recognized that rowing was a power sport. He focused his attention on selecting the strongest athletes and training them to a higher level than other coaches. It was not the technique he introduced that brought success to his crews but the higher level of physical preparation. “Other coaches only saw a different way of rowing, and believing that success came from the Ratzeburg Style, they readily copied it.”4262 What Adam did was use his open mind to take a fresh look at the possibilities the rowing stroke afforded him, just as T.S. Egan and Ned Hanlan and Steve Fairbairn and Charles Courtney and Hiram Conibear and Joe Burk and Giulio Carcano had done before him. Though he came up with many of the same innovations that his predecessors had, he combined them into a unique style that was all his own. And he spread them around DRV Karl von Groddeck the world! The greats in rowing history have been the adventurous ones who have come up with new combinations of old truths. Von Groddeck Nash: “Since his retirement from senior rowing, Karl-Heinrich von Groddeck has had a successful career as a sports journalist. He is a terrific reporter, editor and writer and is a courageous advocate of fair practices in German and FISA rowing. He is a traditionalist and is often at odds with federation plans – but he is clear in his own message – row, race hard, no tricks, no 4262 Spracklen, personal correspondence, 2010 sudden rule changes, just go to win. That still seems to be good advice. “He has covered other sports with the same enthusiasm, and he has a loyal following. He and his family have attended nearly all European, World Cup, World and Olympic Regattas for forty-five years. “In later years, we would meet at regattas by chance and have lunch or dinner and discuss changes in rowing and technique. “Karl is an image to be remembered. Stern and solemn, he was one of the last of the ‘originals,’ that first generation of Ratzeburgers from the ‘50s that went on to win the 1960 Olympics. “I have never rowed with Karl in a masters’ boat, but I have watched him all I could at Lucerne, St. Moritz and once at his Ratzeburger Ruderclub. “Once while riding a bike along the Rotsee path, I saw what I felt was one of the strongest men on an oar I had ever seen, extraordinary consistent power, only to discover it was Karl at his version of ‘steady state,’ doing repeat distance pieces at medium rates. “Most impressive.”4263 R.I.P. After winning the 1960 Olympic Eights titles, Karl Adam became a celebrity worldwide. He toured the United States in 1963 and 1970, giving clinics that influenced a whole generation of rowers and coaches, as will be discussed in later chapters. To Allen Rosenberg, the American Olympic coach who had to compete against 4263 Nash, personal correspondence, 2009 1168
