THE WINDS OF CHANGE “Three Americans collapsed in their slides, and it took the crew more than one hour to row back to the boathouses. The Australians made the trip in half an hour.”2671 Grimes: “In the semi-finals against Australia when everybody criticized us for going all out, we felt we had to beat the Australians to teach them a lesson. “Twenty-five years later, we learned that the 4-man in the Australian crew was so beat up after the semis that he had to go to the hospital!”2672 Charlton: “We won the Olympics in the semi-finals. We all knew that two boats were going to go into the final. It didn’t matter whether you were first or second, but Jim said, ‘You guys. Go out and beat ‘em!’ and we made a race out of that semi-final. “If they had been smart, they wouldn’t have raced us. They would have just paddled over the course, and who knows what would have happened, but we went into the final knowing that we’d beaten the Australians, and they went into the final knowing that they’d been beaten by us. That race gave us the jack up and gave them the jack down. “It was Jim’s strategy that we go for the win that day. Jim understood that we needed to win that semi-final, and looking back on it, that was the beginning of the end for the Australians. “I was the captain of the crew, and it was a very difficult crew to hold together, and, in many ways, I think our two losses were the best things to happen to us. It brought the boat together. “Losing to Cornell at the Sprints in the last ten strokes, all we could think about was getting to the Trials and getting another shot at them. 2671 John Lardner, Letter from the Olympics, The New Yorker, December 15, 1956, p. 63 2672 Grimes, personal correspondence, 2006 “The same thing in the Olympic heat. That was a real wake-up call for us.”2673 “Among the eights eliminated before the final were Czechoslovakia, Italy and Russia – the winner and two finalists in the European Championships.”2674 The Final Cooke: “The 1956 Yale Crew had understroked every crew in every race – and still won – until we met the Aussies and the Canadians on Lake Wendouree, and reluctantly we came to the realization that we would have to row a higher stroke to be competitive in the Olympics.”2675 Charlton: “Long, low, powerful strokes with lots of swing became obsolete for us after the loss to Australia in the Olympic heat. We had to be prepared to row 35-6 to win the final.”2676 Grimes: “In my opinion, we were not in good shape and not rowing particularly well in Australia. The only reason we won was because Rathschmidt had trained our bladework so well that we were able to raise our rate from 31 to 36 or 37 in the final. “Most of the guys didn’t know that we were going to do it. I had a word with Bob Morey, who was our stroke, and pointed out to him that we weren’t going to win if we didn’t row higher, and it probably wasn’t going to work if the other guys, including the coach, knew anything about the plan. “I think the key was Bob willing to row higher so as not to get behind the other crews and then beat them at whatever stroke they were rowing at, to take the lead and bust them, which is exactly what we eventually did.”2677 2673 Charlton, personal conversation, 2006 2674 British Olympic Association, p. 54 2675 Cooke, op. cit. 2676 Charlton, personal correspondence, 2005 2677 Grimes, personal conversation, 2006 733
