THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING good chance we had won, but I was prepared to have it go the other way.’”4712 Contrary to popular perception, the boat is moving slowest shortly after entry because it takes time for the leverage of the oars against the water to overcome the drive toward the stern against the footstretchers. And the boat is moving fastest at some point well after the release because the movement of the athletes’ bodies toward the stern propels their hull in the opposite direction according to Newton’s Third Law.4713 What happened on Alamitos Bay in 1968 was that the Penn Crew spent the last 11 feet pulling through, but they could not match the Harvard Crew, who were spending the same last 11 feet leaping forward on their Stop & Shop recovery. The New Yorker: “We waited. For a full seven minutes we waited for the verdict from the photo-finish camera, while the shells lay dead in the water at the end of the course, the spent oarsmen doubled over their oars and exchanging murmured speculations. The huddled judges broke up at last, and the news spread, first by word of mouth and then officially: Harvard would go to Mexico. The winning margin was four inches. “The picture showed Harvard clearly ahead with Penn coming off the drive at the finish. The times were unbelievable – 5:40.55 to 5:40.60. The difference, by Longines, was five one-hundredths of a second. “The rowers exchanged grave handshakes, and the Penn giants gathered 4712 Crimson Oarsmen Win Olympic Berth, News and Views of Harvard Sports, July 31, 1968, pp. 1-4 4713 See Chapter 90, and yes, I am well aware that this is a highly simplified description of a very complex dynamic system in motion, but it will suffice for the limited purpose of interpreting these finish line photos. 4714 Angell, op. cit., pp. 82-4 4715 Canning, op. cit., pp. 72-4 4716 Angell, op. cit. 4717 The Oarsman, Nov/Dec, 1972, p. 38 miserably around a print of the unalterable photo.”4714 A year earlier, 7-seat Curt Canning had written: “We lacked experience in beating back challenges.”4715 Harvard had gained that experience at the Pan American Games, North American Championships, U.S. Championships and European Champion- ships during the summer of 1967. One might surmise that they would not have won in Long Beach were it not for the previous summer. The New Yorker: “Parker told me that his rowers would have a week off before resuming daily practice on the Charles, and that they would get a month of high-altitude training at Gunnison, Colorado before departing for the Games. “Waiting for them in Mexico would be Russia, New Zealand and, very probably, Ratzeburg.”4716 Long Beach turned out to be Harvard’s supreme effort of the year. The Oarsman: “The crew was forced to reach its maximum physical and psychological potential for the Olympic Trials in July and had a great deal of difficulty returning to that peak for the Olympic Games in October. “Moreover, it experienced a great deal of illness, minor and not so minor, that hindered the effort. If they had been healthy and able to recover fully from the post- Trials letdown and did not have the altitude to contend with, they might well have won over the West Germans in 1968.”4717 1309
