THE WINDS OF CHANGE Tom Charlton 1956 Olympics Eights Final Canada’s sprint falls short. Cooke: “By the final we had gotten to know the Australian guys pretty well, and they were generally very nice, but they made a big mistake before the start. “Before races we had a habit of passing a handshake down the boat, coxswain to stroke, stroke to 7, 7 to 6, etc. By the time Charlie Grimes turned around to shake Don Beer’s hand, Garth Manton, the Aussie 5- man, called over with his accent, ‘I say, Charles, haven’t you met Don yet?’ “That was the wrong thing to say. It totally stirred the juices in our boat.”2680 Essy: “That last little goose did it! Who was this Australian to mock one of our sacred Yale rituals?”2681 Esselstyn’s memories of the race begin with the start. “It might as well have been Tippy Goes, except it was in French instead of Hungarian. “They jumped us a deck at the start, both Canada and Australia, but immediately Bill began calling for power-10s, for he 2680 Cooke, op. cit. 2681 Esselstyn, personal conversation, 2005 certainly didn’t want them to gain too much on us. I was, and I guess we all were putting out too much for this early stage in a race, but I had to know I had given it all I had. “Anyway, by 500 meters, according to Beck (Everyone seems to have it differently!), we had just about moved it up even with Canada and Australia.”2682 George Pew: “John Cooke later told me that at the beginning of the race he was thinking, ‘This feels a little high.’”2683 Cooke: “I had assumed we were supposed to settle to 32. After the first 500 meters, the coxswain hammered on the side of the boat and said, ‘Alright, gang, we’re going to move it up a little bit. We’re going to go up to 34,’ and all of us mentally said, ‘My God! I thought we were pretty close to that already. It sure feels pretty rushed for 32.’ “I found out later we were rowing 36. We took it to 38, and we rowed most of the race at 38.”2684 2682 Esselstyn diary 2683 Pew, op. cit. 2684 Qtd. by Greenspan, Olympiad 735
