THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT the perfect opportunity for him to break through to Gold. By contrast, Derek Porter was a complete unknown as a sculler. Porter: “When I first started sculling, I was watching Thomas Lange videos as the model technique. He was the go-to guy when I was learning to scull. It was a bit surreal to be rowing against him. “Actually, the whole thing was a bit surreal. I didn’t have much experience at all going in. I had raced Neculai Ţaga of Romania at the World University Games in St. Catharines in ‘93 prior to the Worlds, and that was about it in terms of racing.”6782 Ţaga, 6’4” 192cm 207lb. 94kg, was also new to international competition in the singles, but his sweep accomplishments were extraordinary. He had stroked the Olympic Bronze Medal Coxed-Pair and the Olympic Gold Medal Coxed-Four the previous year on Lago de Bañolas. In fact, it took Porter nearly 750 meters to catch Ţaga and take the lead, while Lange and Chalupa were lurking about three- quarters of a length astern. By 1,000, Porter had expanded the margins to half a length over Ţaga and open water back to Lange. Porter: “Apparently it was raining, but I wasn’t thinking about the rain too much. It was actually quite an easy race for me physically, looking back on it. I had a lot of gears from the eight, and the single was that much more drawn out and relatively lactic acid-free compared to an eights race. The year ‘92 had been one of the toughest races of my life, and ‘93 seemed relatively easy, almost like a chess game playing out rather than an all-out, ‘hold the rate as high as you can and hang on’ kind of race. Single races are seldom like that.”6785 At 750 meters to go, Chalupa began a In a battle between two 1992 Olympic Champion sweep rowers, Ţaga won the singles at the 1993 World University Games with Porter second. Porter: “I didn’t know how fast Chalupa and Lange were going to be, so I just took one race at a time at the Worlds. “I realized in the semi-final that I had enough speed to stay with the guys anyway.”6783 The 1993 singles final was an epic race in a driving rainstorm. Porter: “It was before the days of unisuits for Canada, and we were still racing in shorts, a Fruit of the Loom® t-shirt and a vest. I had a little Chariots of Fire moment, just to get the adrenalin going in case it wasn’t going already, catching my thumb in my shirt in the first ten strokes. I thought I would put myself a length down right off the bat and see if I could come back.”6784 6782 Porter, op. cit., 2010 6783 Ibid. 6784 Ibid. massive push and moved from more than a length down to more than half a length up on the Canadian with 250 to go. Porter waited until the 1,800 meter mark to make his response, and it was devastating. He drove back through and had a good half- length when Chalupa shut down with a stroke or two to go. Defending World and Olympic Champion Thomas Lange was a thoroughly beaten third and Ţaga fourth. Of the top four, only Chalupa was not a 1992 Olympic Champion. Impressive field. Porter: “Lange was probably not totally on form that year, but Chalupa was very much on form in front of his home crowd. I still feel a bit guilty about beating him, actually. We are friends, but I think that was a tough one for him, a no-name Canadian coming out of nowhere and beating him on home turf after he had finally beaten Lange. “Before and since then, he has had a very long and great career.”6786 6785 Ibid. 6786 Ibid. 1879
