THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Strathclyde, Scotland, Steve won the singles, defeating Eric Verdonk of New Zealand, who went on to win Bronze in Seoul 1988. Since there was no coxed-pairs event, Andy and Steve, being the faster of Mike’s two boats, won the coxless-pairs before the squad got back together to win the coxed- fours as well: three Gold Medals for Steve in one international regatta. At the 1986 World Championships in Nottingham, Gold in the coxless-pairs was won by the Pimenov brothers6180 of the Soviet Union, with Italy and GDR pushing past Cross and Clift for the remaining two medals. In the coxed-pairs, Redgrave, Holmes and Pat Sweeney overtook the leading GDR for Gold with 200 meters to go and the Abbagnales still behind them but breathing down their necks. Technique There had been a small evolution of technique from the premier Spracklen- coached Coxed-Four in 1984 to the premier Spracklen-coached Coxless-Pair during the next Olympic cycle. Leg compression increased at the entry, resulting in a reduction of body angle forward. Leg motion predominated early in the pullthrough. There was also a small reduction in layback, perhaps the result of higher stroke ratings down the course. Mike also managed to finally coach Redgrave to delay his arm break a bit. Force application remained Schubschlag acceleration to a ferryman’s finish. Heading for Seoul In 1987, Redgrave and Holmes entered both pairs events at the World Championships. They won the coxless 6180 See Chapter 79. 6181 Redgrave, Golden, p.126 6182 Cross, p. 159 6183 Spracklen, op. cit. event but had to settle for second in the coxed event as the Abbagnales swept by open water to their fifth senior international title in seven years. At the 1988 Olympics, Redgrave and Holmes again went for both events. Redgrave, describing the coxless-pairs final: “We got off to a very fast start, were very comfortable and settled into a nice rhythm. We normally rated about 35 strokes a minute, and here we were at 37, but it felt a smooth, easy pace. The Romanians came back at us in the middle 1,000, but they never got closer than half a length. I just felt in total control the whole time. I felt totally confident, even though we were quite close together by the finish.”6181 Cross: “Steven revolved around to shake Andy’s hand in a celebration of joy that gave no clue to the tension between them.”6182 This was Steve’s and Andy’s second consecutive Olympic Gold Medal. The 1988 coxed-pairs race, however, was a different experience. Spracklen: “The semi-finals for coxed- and coxless-pairs were on the same day, the coxless-pairs in the morning and the coxed- in the afternoon. Fog in the morning delayed racing, and then two pairs collided while warming up. The race was rescheduled again to one hour before the coxed-pairs semi-final. Steve and Andy qualified in both, but racing twice inside an hour did take its toll on them.”6183 Redgrave: “Once the [final] began after a false start, I had an ominous feeling in my stomach as it became a real struggle right from the first few metres. We were left by the Abbagnales and were last after 500 metres. 1725
