THE SPORT OF ROWING 1960 Olympics and he is known to be interested in sports.”3546 The Heat International coxless-fours of that era still tended to go out hard, rowing their fastest 500 of the race in the first 500. The 1960 Lake Washington crew was part of a new trend in international rowing,3547 tending to row more even splits, but this meant they often trailed the field early and had to come from behind. Lago di Albano was nestled within the Ted Nash Collection Kent Mitchell, coxswain of the 1960 U.S. Coxed-Pair, from his journal: “August 20, 1960. Nash raced around Albano in his beloved single after his four’s workout. Claims he raced with Ivanov a few times and even took him twice. Knowing Ted, he tends to exaggerate the facts to the limit. I tend to question his enthusiastic stories somewhat.”3545 Georg Meyers: “The oarsmen hastened their workout today [August 25, 1960, five days before the heats] so they could join the rest of the American team for the mass audience by Pope John [XXIII]. “This was the paddlers’ first look at the world leader of Catholicism, but it is possible the Pope has been peeking at them. The Albano crew course is within easy spying distance from the windows of the Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer home, 3543 See Chapter 85. 3544 Durbrow, personal correspondence, 2009 3545 Mitchell Journal caldera of an extinct volcano outside of Rome, and in the opening Olympic heat, Hungary pulled out half a length on Great Britain and a length on the USA in the first 500 meters. By the 1,000, the Barn Cottage Four of Mike Beresford, Colin Porter, John Vigurs and Chris Davidge3548 had pulled back to within a deck of Hungary, with the Americans only a foot or two behind them in third place. Just past the half-way point, the Americans hit a buoy in the tailwind swirling within the high walls of the volcano, and Ted Nash’s oar split down the length of the thin blade in use in those days. In the third 500, as the crippled U.S. fell half a length off the pace, the British continued to slowly reel in the Hungarians. Lake Washington lost another half- length to the Brits in the last 500 as Hungary ran out of gas and faded past them into third. Georg Meyers: “The fours-without- coxswain are the toughest to steer. And the Yanks proved it. In their preliminary, they veered into a buoy, and Nash broke an oar. They continued on, rowing two-thirds of the 3546 Georg N. Meyers, Clubmen Spring Pre- Olympic Upset, The Seattle Times, September 26, 1960 3547 Like the U.S. coxless- and coxed-pairs of the 1950s. See Chapters 81 and 82. 3548 See Chapter 78. 974
