THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT natural way, and the body is very relaxed.”5376 Long Slides Janoušek made full use of the new 80cm slides, with resulting extreme leg compression limiting body angle forward to +20 to +25°, the same as the USSR and Ratzeburg in 1964. Klavora: “The extra leg work at the catch is accomplished at the expense of very little or almost no body swing [forward]. This is accomplished by a long slide and a very short distance between the stretcher and the front stop. All oarsmen display a tremendous compression at the catch, since their knee joints are almost completely closed.”5377 Distinctive Entry The Janoušek entry was a creative attempt to avoid boat check at the entry. Since the 19th Century, it had been well understood that to slow the slide toward the end of its travel required the athlete to press against the footstretcher, and that this pressure against the footstretcher slowed the run of the boat, a phenomenon known to oarsmen as “check.” The English Orthodox and Conibear solution was to begin the recovery quickly and then approach the entry slowly to minimize the problem. The solution adopted by Rosenberg was to slide steadily into the stern and then enter the water while the slide was still moving, so there would be no pressure applied to the footstretcher prior to the beginning of the pullthrough. Moscow Style, Ratzeburg and GDR crews did the same thing but added an 5376 Wilson, p. 27 5377 Klavora, International, p. 21 acceleration to the slide as it approached the stern stops. Janoušek took this idea an additional step further. Wilson: “An instant before the slide reaches front stops, the back and arms lift up and slightly back, hooking the blade into the water. “The slide continues rolling astern for an instant, under the oarsman, and then quickly starts back as the legs begin to drive. In effect, then, the back and arms begin the pullthrough while the slide is still on the recovery.”5378 Before and ever since, such movement would usually be derided as “butt-tucking,” but successful Janoušek crews unexpectedly made the unique movement quite pleasing to the eye. It also meant a sequential usage of back first, then legs, a reincarnation of pre- Fairbairn English Orthodox Technique.5379 Accordingly, I shall refer to Janoušek’s approach using Peter Klavora’s term: English Orthodox Revival. Surprisingly, the concept was not new. In his introduction to his father’s writings, Ian Fairbairn wrote the following in his discussion of his own coach at Eton, R.S. de Havilland: “Havi, of course, like all other great teachers, had friends and followers from whose exaggerations he may well at times have prayed to be saved. I heard for example of one pupil of Havi’s, a famous Cambridge oarsman, coaching the Cambridge crew to put their blades in the water before their slides were fully forward so that they could go on sliding forward during the first part of the stroke in order to emphasize the open-up between thighs and ribs at the beginning of the stroke. “But except for exaggerations and travesties, which so far as I can judge have never been widespread or enduring, 5378 Wilson, p. 24 5379 See Chapter 7 ff. 1485
