THE SPORT OF ROWING Porterfield and Jeff McLaughlin in the bow- pair and Pat Manning in stroke, was noticeably different from the Penn A.C. fours of previous years. Whereas in previous boats, the legs, backs and arms were coordinated in a fluid, concurrent effort on the pullthrough, in 1991 the separate delayed back swing dominated the legs Korzeniowski-style, and the crew seemed to wrench their upper bodies backward during the middle of the pullthrough. In addition, McLaughlin and Manning especially would reach practically their full (and generous) layback with their arms still virtually straight, making the end of the pullthrough an awkward attempt to lever the handle into the body while studiously avoiding a ferryman’s finish. The result was a great deal less elegant versus their predecessors of ‘86-87 and ‘88- 89. The crew seemed to muscle it through the water. McLaughlin: “Much of the technique stemmed from our Northeastern University style combined with the Korzeniowski style: hang your body weight on the oar at the catch, leverage it through the water and quickly finish the stroke with the weakest part of the muscular connection: the arms.6538 “Starting with the body swing and then accelerating the arms in and away quickly resulted in moments of the magical rhythm that helped the 1987 Eight win the Worlds by open water, the last crew to do so, I believe.”6539 1991 Worlds The coxless-fours final in Vienna, however, followed an unfortunate pattern 6538 This was the way Korzeniowski described his style, not how his 1987 crew rowed it. See Chapter 124. 6539 McLaughlin, op. cit. that had begun in 1988. Then it was GDR who took the lead early, held it down the course and matched Penn A.C.’s sprint to win comfortably. In 1991, it was the defending World Champion from Australia6540 who pulled to a half-length lead in the first 300 meters and crossed the 1,000 almost a length ahead of the Americans in second. The margin eventually expanded to a foot or two of open water before closing a few feet in the sprint to the line. 1992 McLaughlin: “It was now late ‘91 with the ‘92 Olympics coming fast, and the coxless-four was again to be the priority boat because we had been the highest finishing ‘91 crew with the most potential and the best world class times. “We agreed, ‘Let’s spend the next year with Ted, and let’s get ourselves to Philly, not just as a summer sublet but as a full time thing. Let’s put the time and effort in.’ “After ‘91, we all rededicated ourselves to the fact that this guy Ted Nash was good! “Ted is definitely an acquired taste. The stories about him for the most part are true! And that becomes part of the understanding. The fact that he knows the average human head weighs a certain amount, and you’re wasting your muscles by holding it too far to the right . . . those types of stories, well, that’s Ted. How can you argue?”6541 “Mike Porterfield’s back failed him and required surgery without enough time to recover and make the four. I convinced Doug Burden to jump from sculling back to sweep to join us in the selection process for the coxless-four.”6542 Princeton-grad Burden was the owner of two Bronze and one Gold Medal in sweep 6540 See Chapter 131. 6541 McLaughlin, personal conversation, 2007 6542 McLaughlin, personal correspondence, 2006 1808
