THE SPORT OF ROWING we took considerable delight in telling Teddy how much better his boat looked.”3697 The Final The coxless-fours final started at 4:49PM, nineteen minutes after the coxed-pair. The northeast wind that had made the first two races, the coxed-fours and the coxless-pairs, unfair across the lanes, had shifted so that it blew straight down the course for the rest of the races. For the coxless-fours, it was blowing from the east southeast at 4.3 mps,3698 down from 5.8 mps the previous race, and it would continue to moderate for the last two races. The lanes appeared to be fair with a possible slight advantage for Lane 6, next to the wall. Nevertheless, the race started with an echelon. Italy in Lane 3 were never a factor in Official Report XVIII Olympiad Roforeningen Kvik, København Coxless-Four 1963 European Fourth Place, Bagsværd Sø 1964 European Silver Medal, Bosbaan 1964 Olympic Champion, Toda Bashi The most popular winners in Tokyo. Bow John Ørsted Hansen 6’1” 185cm 181lb. 82kg, 2 Erik Petersen 6’0” 184cm 179lb. 81kg, 3 Kurt Helmudt 6’4” 194cm 220lb. 100kg Stroke Bjørn Borgen Hasløv 6’0” 182cm 181lb. 82kg, gallows humor spread around, especially in the Vesper Eight. Emory Clark: “As soon as Geoff got into the [LWRC] boat, what had been ‘Nash’s Four’ became ‘Picard’s Four,’ and the race. After 150 meters, the Netherlands crew in Lane 6 led by nearly half a length, followed by Germany in Lane 5, Great Britain in Lane 4 and Denmark in Lane 2 all within a few feet of one another. The United States in Lane 1, were losing ground quickly, already three seats behind the Danes in the lane next to them and rowing at 34½ into the wind. Nash: “Our start was ‘shaky!’ That’s the only word for it, and it was my fault. It was only the second start the new combination had ever done, even in practice, and in the excitement of the Olympic final, I tried to go out as high as we usually did. Geoff had been a very good stroke at Harvard, and he was great at high ratings, but we should have been two points lower on the start due to the weather. “We blitzed off, and we were shaky! I immediately was very dissatisfied with 3697 Clark, op. cit. 3698 9.6 mph 1012
