THE SUNSET OF CONIBEAR Sure, I wanted to beat them, not because of their politics but because of personal pride. “I was anti-Nixon, anti-war and anti- segregation. What I was not was naive. Anyway, the pep talk went badly for me and put a bad taste in my mouth. The Final “The next morning, we took the bus to the race course. I remember looking out the window, realizing how good we had it. There were people living in the lava fields in tin-roofed huts with cardboard walls. “We took the boat to the water. Not much talking, just quiet determination. Launching, we pulled to the port side of the course so we could warm up along the bleachers. “Then it really hit me. I was in the I was representing myself, my final! University and the USA. My stomach tightened up. “About a hundred meters from the docks, there was a huge scoreboard on the opposite side of the course. It showed the lanes and countries. Lane 5 USA “This was a good lane for us. Four crews would be to our starboard, and I was more comfortable looking to that side since I had learned to row in the 7-seat behind a starboard stroke. Only Russia was to my port in Lane 6. “Then starting from the 250-to-go mark, we heard people shouting ‘U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A.’ It never stopped. One of the features of this particular course that was different from any course I have seen since was that it had seating all the way from the starting line to the finish. A mile and a quarter of cheering fans. The ‘cheap seats’ were for the poorer fans who had to pay only a few pesos, and it was from these seats that the loudest cheers were coming. “Now I was in real trouble. Not only was my stomach tight, it was tight in my throat, my arms felt like spaghetti, and my legs were numb. In addition, my bowels were threatening to loosen to the point that I felt like I needed a break. “Scared ♠ᵜ!♪less was what I was. “We warmed up, but really we were just trying to lose our jitters. None of us had slept well, and we were all overcome by the immensity of what we were doing. It was quiet in the boat as the cheering continued. “We got to the starting line. Again they went boat by boat, asking if we were ready. “‘Prêt?’ “Then the start: ‘Êtes vous prêt? Partez!’ Are you ready? Go. “Unfortunately, someone to starboard had left early. We went a full thirty strokes before we saw the white flag come up. It was like deflating a balloon. We went too far, expended too much energy. “The second start was clean. We started at 46 for the first fifteen strokes, but instead of doing the next twenty at 41 and then down to 38 to finish out the first 500, we went straight from 46 to 38, and that was too low. Our boat felt heavy, perhaps because of the false start, perhaps the excitement and trepidation, but it felt like an anchor had been dropped. We were in third place at the 1,000 meter mark: New Zealand GDR USA Switzerland Italy Russia 3:16.96 3:20.07 3:21.41 3:23.38 3:23.67 3:34.31 “New Zealand had East Germany by a length, and we were a half-length behind East Germany. Switzerland and Italy were in a dead heat two-thirds of a length behind us. Russia brought up the rear, not really a factor. “We retained third place through the 1,500 meter mark, but by that point, my peripheral vision was gone. Oxygen debt had caught up with me and robbed me of the 1231
