THE SPORT OF ROWING and they were correct. Beating East Germany was frosting on the cake.”5202 Shealy: “Our final was executed almost without flaw, and we felt a unit in our rowing, thoughts and reactions while in the boat. It was a unique feeling, a near total command of bodily movement and mental concentration. We felt a part of the boat itself, each reacting and moving in a rhythm and fluidity that I have never before experienced. These were moments we felt on the verge of technical perfection, a feeling very few oarsmen know.”5203 “On a picturesque afternoon in Lucerne, Switzerland, with cowbells ringing in the distance and only the faintest hint of a breeze, we beat the best in the world at their own game. I don’t recall our crew taking a bad stroke the entire race. We went off the line at 52 spm, settled at 48, and never went below 44 spm. We rowed through Russia first, New Zealand at 1,250 meters, and held off a frantic sprint by the British5204 in the last 500 meters to take home the Gold.”5205 Ted Nash: “I watched the entire race from a bike. Al Shealy was understandably busy during the race. He recalls the start well, but they did not row 44 all the way. I clocked them at 38½-39 at their lowest, 41 in the last 400 and 44 at the end. My log shows their brilliant race had sharp catches and unusual run and flow.”5206 Stevenson: “We had a very rocky start. I don’t know why Al glosses over that bit. We were much socked down to starboard – I remember it so well, as my frustration was high during those ten or so racing-start strokes. “I was breathing fire to get at the field with our aggressive, silky, tactical power, just champing at the bit to blast into the middle 1,000 that, I was convinced, was our killing ground, and we hunted New Zealand down in that stretch. “It was magnificent! We literally took that Kiwi boat apart seat by seat . . . The acceleration seemed to flow on and on and on . . . “‘Poetry in motion’ is inadequate to describe that moment in time, and time did indeed seem to stop during that mid-race run . . . ”5207 Vespoli: “By the 1,000 we poke our nose [into the lead], and then over in Lane 1 the British are sort of lying in wait. They go hell-bent for leather, and because of the view it looks like they are gaining on us and they’re going to beat us. Well, from our position in the boat, there was not a way in hell they were going to catch us.”5208 Stevenson: “A V-8 we were indeed, and like a big V-8, we had bottomless torque. Whatever that race required, we delivered. It was not an effort to humiliate any crew – simply to win. I saw this ‘cause I will forever know we had a lot more speed in that crew than was shown on that afternoon!”5209 5202 Nash, personal correspondence, 2009 5203 Shealy, p. 38 5204 For the British viewpoint, see Chapter 117. 5205 Ibid. 5206 Nash, personal correspondence, 2007 5207 Stevenson, op. cit., 2007 5208 Qtd. by Moag, op. cit. 5209 Stevenson, personal correspondence, 2007 1436
