THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT The Oarsman United States Camp Women’s Eight 1976 Olympic Bronze Medal, Île Notre Dame Coxswain Lynn Silliman, Stroke Jackie Zoch 5’11” 180cm 168lb. 76kg, 7 Anita DeFrantz 5’11” 180cm 159lb. 72kg 6 Carie Graves 6’1” 186cm 170lb. 77kg, , 5 Marion Greig 5’11” 180cm 154lb. 70kg, 4 Anne Warner 5’8” 173cm 150lb. 68kg, 3 Peggy McCarthy 5’9” 175cm 141lb. 64kg, 2 Carol Brown 5’8” 172cm 148lb. 67kg, Bow Gail Ricketson 5’8” 173cm 141lb. 64kg mark even with GDR, who were following their own race plan by rowing steadily at 35. These were determined women, America’s very best, true trailblazers in their country. However, determination was not enough for the 1976 U.S. Olympic Women’s Eight. The Oarsman: “The wind had come up to its strongest of the entire regatta, 4.8 meters per second,5929 and it was quite rocky for the first 750 meters.”5930 GDR waited until they had crossed the 500 to take a 10 at 36, and soon their lead over the U.S. was a seat, then a deck, then a half length, and the race was over between these two fine boats. The Oarsman: “In the third 250, the U.S. seemed to have its most difficult time with the conditions and threw up a lot of white water. The U.S. rowed this split a full four seconds slower than the preceding one 5929 10.7 mph. 5930 Peter Lippett, Women’s Rowing, The Oarsman, July/August 1976, p. 23 and dropped 2.4 seconds behind the leaders.”5931 Anita DeFrantz: “No one seems to remember that the water was so unfair that day that we actually rowed in Lane 7. The idea was that since Lanes 1 and 2 were nearly glass at the final 250 (protected by the grandstand), if everyone moved over one lane to the left, more boats would have rough water, making the race fairer. Unfortunately, it made it nearly unrowable for us during some parts of the race since we were right at the rocks on the far bank. “Our first race as a boat was the opening heats of the Olympic Games. While we were not a boat with great finesse, we were rowing in an ocean.”5932 USSR There was another crew in the medal hunt in Montréal. The Soviet entry from Dynamo Kiev Ukraine had been put 5931 Peter Lippett, op. cit. 5932 DeFrantz, op. cit. 1663
