THE SPORT OF ROWING Laumann in 1996 During the 1996 Olympic final in the women’s singles, Laumann successfully jumped the start but immediately fell half a length behind Khodatovich. Both were rowing 32 as they crossed the 500 meter mark, and the margin remained a half-length through the 750 when Laumann began a push at 33 and drove into a two-foot or half meter lead crossing the 1,000. The two leaders rowed the third 500 stroke for stroke well clear of the other finalists. With 500 to go, Khodatovich had regained the lead by a very small amount. She was rowing a smooth concurrent Schubschlag Classical Technique and appeared to be cruising at steady state compared to her Canadian opponent, who seemed to be making a superhuman physical effort fighting against the water instead of working with it. Laumann: “When I look back at my Olympic race in 1996, and I certainly had the same feeling even right then, from a psychological perspective, from an effort perspective, I thought it was a flawless performance, so much so that if somebody gave me the chance to go back and row it differently, take a different tactic, take a different move in different places, I can’t think of what I might do differently. I felt really good about my performance in 1996.”6807 With 400 to go and both scullers at 34, Laumann regained the advantage and courageously pushed it to nearly half a length. After her accident in 1992, it is safe to say that at this moment almost everyone in the crowd, including myself, was rooting for her. At the 250 meter marker, Khodatovich raised the rate to 39, and went from half a 6807 Laumann, op. cit., 2010 length behind to half a length ahead in ten strokes. Laumann never got her rating higher than 35, and it looked so hard for her. Khodatovich made it look incredibly easy as she piled on another length by the finish line. Laumann: “It was like a hot knife through butter! With the way she came back, it was like rowing against the World Champion men’s sculler. She pulled that out of a hat. There was nothing I could do to handle that! She’s just a tremendous athlete!6808”6809 Today Silken Laumann is an author, inspirational speaker, child advocate and blogger at www.silkenlaumann.com/blog. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia with her family. In the fall of 2010 she began coaching the middle school rowing team of her 13-year old son. Porter in 1996 Porter went to Atlanta as the winner of the 1996 Internationale Rotsee Regatta in Lucerne. Rowing a solid 34 in the Olympic final, he led Germany’s Thomas Lange, the ‘88 and ‘92 Olympic Champion and runner- up to him in Lucerne, by a couple of feet at the 500. He extended that lead to half a length at the 1,000 and two-thirds of a length midway through the third 500. At 1,500, Porter still had half a length on Lange, but Switzerland’s Xeno Müller6810 had been moving up smoothly 6808 In her career in the women’s singles through 2010, Khodatovich-Karsten has now won two Gold, one Silver and one Bronze in the Olympics and six Gold, two Silver and two Bronze at the World Championships. In 2010 she was World Cup Champion. 6809 Laumann, op. cit., 2010 6810 See Chapter 133. 1884
