THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT FISA 1988 Video 1988 Internationale Rotsee Regatta, Lucerne Men’s Coxless-Fours Final at the moment the U.S. crossed the finish line. 1 RDA (Lane 3), 2 GBR (Lane 5), 3 USA (Lane 2), 4 URS (Lane 4), 5 ITA (Lane 1) After the Coxless-Fours Trials, everyone else at Penn A.C. was preparing for the two Pairs Trials, the last of all the men’s sweep boats to be selected, scheduled only eleven days prior to departure for Korea. Bob Espeseth and Dan Lyons from the 1986 World Champion Four won the Coxed- Pairs Trials with Penn’s Jon Fish6519 coxing. Of the eleven original pairs training under Ted, four had now been named to the team in one event or another, and the seven remaining entered the Coxless-Pairs Trials. The ultimate winners were Kurt Bausback and Ed Ives, who had been cut from the Eight Camp. When the Trials second-place coxless- pair, John Riley and Ted Swinford, became the Olympic Team spares, every member of the Penn A.C. A and B Fours had made it to the Seoul Olympic Games, which was a personal goal of Ted’s. Lyons: “I believe very strongly that our 1986-‘87-‘88 Four was the fastest four ever to come out of this country. Healthy, there 6519 With Lyons a member of the 1987 Oxford Mutiny. See Chapter 144. was no one on Earth that could beat us. It was like driving an incredible high performance Ferrari. “I was in charge of calling moves and such, and when I did, the crew responded instantly, like pressing the accelerator. While the recovery was smooth, easy and fluid, the DRIVE was unbelievable. We were extremely quick on the front end, did not miss any water, and picked the boat up with speed and power without any discernible ‘clunk.’ “We really could not tell where the recovery ended and the drive began. The ‘lock and pry’ effect of the leveraged stroke was instantaneous. Not ‘pounding,’ not ‘driving,’ not ‘clunky,’ just smooth, connected, immediate and FUN. What a joy it was to row that boat, and how fortunate I was to be a part of it.”6520 The Killer Bs The technique of the 1988 Penn A.C. B Four had evolved slightly from the 1986 6520 Lyons, op. cit. 1801
