THE SPORT OF ROWING www.youtube.com/ watch?v=z11JXKtdB3o RK Žalgiris Vilnius Coxed-Pair 1960 Olympic Silver Medal Lago di Albano Bagdonavičius: -10°, +30° to -10°, 0-10, 0-10, 0-10 ferryman’s finish Kernschlag Moscow Style. Note hand heights approaching the “windmill” entry. Maximal effort at catch, maintained to release with hybrid-concurrent legs, backs and arms. A pattern was evident. Except for Ivanov, who only took the lead in the second 500 of his heat, both Soviet boats had led from the gun and won as they pleased. The difference between the Soviets and the Americans appeared to be interval training. Repeat 500-meter pieces with two or three minutes rest in between, a training method borrowed from runners, had given them an astonishing burst of speed early in their races and extraordinary fitness down the course. After Rome, interval training would be adopted by American crews following the example of West German coach Karl Adam. See Chapter 92. Mitchell: “August 30, 1960 (contin- ued). At this point, I was scared. There could no longer be any question about whether or not the Europeans are fast. Believe me, they are! “Hit the rack about 10 and raced the race once or twice before falling asleep. “August 31, 1960 [the day of the coxed- pairs heats]. Had one poached egg for breakfast and headed to dear old Albano. I noticed the wind was blowing and naïvely hoped it would be calm at the lake. No such luck. The waves were up, and the wind was flying straight down the course, just the way the high strokers like it. “In fact, as we climbed off the bus, I mentioned to the Russian pair-with stroke that the wind was really blowing. He replied, ‘Ja, es ist gut für uns, aber für euch, weiss ich nicht.’3413 “How right he was. “At the start they lined us up, and on ‘Partez!’ off we and five others went. Russia led right off the blocks and by 1,000 meters was 15 seconds ahead. Czechoslovakia, too, moved out about 3 lengths, but we passed them by the 1,250 meter mark. However, these Ruskies, rowing their 32 beat, by now were still 14 seconds ahead. I told Conn and Dick all this as they took meter after meter on us, but with the weather conditions, we never did get the boat moving well. 3413 “Yes, it’s good for us, but for you, I don’t know.” 942
