THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING Olympic Trials] at Pelham Bay. The other was the Doc Riggall, named for the savior of Vesper.5036 It was smaller and lighter and very stiff. “In Tokyo, the Aussies asked to borrow an eight for a row as they were considering buying a Donoratico. They got about 600 meters down the course in the Kelly, and the rigger at the 5-seat fell off. There was no doubt that whoever loosened those nuts didn’t know that we would race the Riggall and not the Kelly in the final.” Dietrich’s most dramatic contribution came on the morning of the Olympic final in Tokyo when he discovered that overnight someone had again loosened the rigger nuts and tampered with the adjustment on Vesper’s shell. “Dietrich quietly set the riggers right and did not divulge the incident until afterward.”5037 The Final The afternoon of the finals in Tokyo started blustery with a cross-headwind blowing from Lane 6. Rowing News: “The races were postponed from 1:30 until 3:00 PM.”5038 After the first two races ended in echelon finishes with the sheltered Lane 6 winning both, FISA President Thomi Keller, under enormous pressure from the participants, Harry Parker among the loudest,5039 ordered an additional 20 minute delay for the singles race with the athletes already on the water. Fortunately, the wind then shifted from the northeast, the Lane 6 side of the course, to the east, blowing straight down the 5036 As long-time president of Vesper, Dr. Charles W. Riggall invited Kelly, Sr. to return and rebuild the club in 1942. 5037 Stowe, p. 153 5038 Norm Sonju, Vesper 8 Comes Back Through Repêchages, Rowing News December 1964, p. 4 5039 See Chapter 82. course. However, there was by then very little time before sunset to get the final five races run at the scheduled 20 minute intervals, with the eights being the last. Rowing News: “As the day progressed, the wind swung around and became a direct headwind. When the eights came to the line it was dusk, and flares attached to parachutes were shot into the air to light the course. The wind had dropped to about six miles per hour.”5040 As the eights lined up at 5:27PM, two hours late, the direct headwind from the east was clocked at 3.0 mps or 6.7 mph, the lowest all afternoon. As in the previous four races, the lanes appeared to be equally affected with perhaps the slightest wind shadow for Lane 6, along the port wall. The Seattle Times: “It was rowing’s weirdest spectacle when the world’s six swiftest eights lined up at the start by the light of the low-hanging moon. The Germans were favored to retain the Olympic crown they won in Rome in 1960, interrupting a string of American victories dating back to 1920.”5041 Bill Stowe: “Darkness was almost upon us and while the wind was still blowing, it appeared to be coming straight down the course, and a headwind was pleasing to this former Cornell oarsman, who always won when there was one.”5042 The tension was palpable. Rosenberg: “It was a bit of a mess, because the crew had eaten lunch, not anticipating any delay.”5043 At the last moment, as night was falling, they called the eights to the start platform. As a heat winner, Ratzeburg had been assigned to Lane 3 in the middle of the course. The USA, who had lost to 5040 Sonju, op. cit. 5041 Georg N. Meyers, Vesper, Seattle Oarsmen Win, The Seattle Times, October 16, 1964 5042 Stowe, p. 156 5043 Rosenberg, USRA Clinic, Chula Vista, CA, Sept 11-2, 2004 1397