THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT Sam Patten Sam Patten had been a member of the 1981 National Champion Scotch College Melbourne Junior Coxed-Four.6375 His father had been a member of Australia’s first Winter Olympic ski team in Oslo in 1952.6376 Sam rowed in the 1983 World Bronze Medal and 1984 Olympic Bronze Medal Eights and then took two years off to continue his medical studies. He returned to Mercantile Rowing Club in 1986.6377 Patten and Tomkins went undefeated in their pair in 1987, and both were selected for the 1987 Australian Eight,6378 but after disappointing showings in both 1987 and 1988, “Tomkins had had enough.”6379 In 1989, Australia sent only a limited team to the Worlds in Bled. 1990 In 1990, the Mercantile Four went to selection hoping to be named to the Worlds Team intact. They were the fastest four by open water. Then the national selectors decided to replace Richard Howden with Nick Green. Yallop: “The new combination clicked instantly, winning by an enormous seventeen seconds compared to a four second margin with Howden in the boat.”6380 Nick Green Another product of Xavier College in Melbourne,6381 Nick Green had been a member of the 1987 Victorian Youth 6375 Ibid, p. 63 6376 Ibid. 6377 Ibid, p. 64 6378 Ibid, p. 65 6379 Ibid, p. 68 6380 Ibid, p. 96 6381 Ibid, p. 88 Eight,6382 the 1988 Australian U-23 Eight6383 and the 1989 U-23 Eight and Four.6384 In 1990, he was in a four from Melbourne University.6385 Green provided the missing link to the Mercantile Four.6386 Richardson: “His height and reach were critical because he could row longer strokes. “He’s the quiet achiever. You don’t want too many egos or chiefs in the boat, and Nick’s always concentrated on doing the job.”6387 Green: “Mike and James are the more explosive in their power, and I’m the rhythm in the race because I can churn out workload consistently.”6388 Donaldson: “One day I’d love to have athletes who get on really, really well, and win, but I might be waiting until I die. When people ask what qualities you need to be a World Champion, I say ‘egotism, arrogance, self confidence.’ Nice guys might win, but only once. Nick is easy- going and pleasant, but he can also be arrogant.”6389 The question remained whether to row the coxed- or coxless-four at the Worlds. They settled on the coxless-four when they won in course-record time in Račice and then crabbed out while in the lead of the coxed-fours race.6390 In Lucerne, they won again over a field that included the World Champion SC Berlin-Grünau/Einheit Dresden crew,6391 setting a course record.6392 6382 Ibid, p. 95 6383 Ibid. 6384 Ibid. 6385 Ibid, p. 88 6386 Ibid, p. 96 6387 Ibid. 6388 Ibid. 6389 Ibid, p. 168 6390 Ibid p. 97 6391 See Chapter 119. 6392 Yallop p. 98 1771
