THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING Actually, the Soviets led at the 500, but all six crews were within three-quarters of a length. Budd: “I remember beginning to breathe smoothly and not even daring to take a peek out, except for Clark who always looked out, and I remember a point somewhere in the middle of that race thinking, ‘You know, Bronze would be okay. I’d settle for Bronze. “I could handle a Bronze.’”5048 At the 1,000, Ratzeburg led by .28 seconds over Vesper with the Soviets sliding half a length back and the rest open water behind. Rosenberg: “I told the crew to take a move at around 1,100. The military sent up overhead flares to light the area, and the automobiles on the far side had turned on their headlights.”5049 Stowe: “At about 1,200 meters we walked on the Germans. At the end of the power-20 we had open water.”5050 Emory Clark: “Just about then my blade slapped a wave on the recovery and spun in my hands. I didn’t know how I knew it was backwards, but I did. “I pulled what the British call an ‘air shot,’ and on my next trip up the slide I could row it in. It was so dark I did not think anybody noticed, but Robby [Zimonyi] said he saw it, and Boyce claims he started to pray.”5051 Rosenberg: “I am fascinated to compare the horrendous crabs of the Yalies, both in ‘56 (Wailes at the start)5052 and in ‘64 (Clark at the 1,400), and have them recover to go on to win. Lesser men could not likely do that, I think.”5053 5048 Budd, op. cit. 5049 Rosenberg, op. cit. 5050 Stowe, pp. 158-9 5051 Clark, qtd. by Stowe, p. 159 5052 See Chapter 69. 5053 Rosenberg, personal correspondence, 2007 Clark: “Rosenberg notwithstanding, I did not catch a crab in the third 500 of the final in Tokyo. I simply missed a stroke.”5054 Budd: “Clark always seemed to favor us with one screwed up stroke, crab or missed stroke in every race, so it is accurate to say that he rowed one less stroke than the rest of the eight in the Olympic final. How many people can make that claim?”5055 Clark: “It was nice being mentioned in the same sentence with Rusty Wailes, however. I was privileged to row with him in the ‘58 Yale Varsity, and if I ever had a rowing hero, Rusty was that man.”5056 Budd: “Then 1,500 meters began to approach, and Bob Zimonyi, this coxswain who had raced in three Olympics for Hungary5057 before defecting in Melbourne as a 45-year-old, and he usually would say stuff like [imitating a Hungarian accent], “I feel nossing, boys. I feel nossing!’ “We would be rowing our absolute flat- ass best ever, and, ‘I feel nossing! I feel nossing! I vant to feel ze stroke!’ “But now you could hear the excitement beginning to creep into his voice, and at the same time we were beginning to enter that delirium state. “You’re beginning to get into oxygen debt, and thinking, ‘Do I have enough juice left to get this incredible distance down the race course?’ “Of course, it was only 500 more meters, but it seemed like forever. “Like all coxswains, of course Bob lied as to how many strokes we had to go, the way they always do. “‘Twenty-five strokes to go!’ and then he starts talking, and then it’s twenty-four . . . and then he talks a little bit more, and three 5054 Clark, personal correspondence, 2010 5055 Budd, personal correspondence, 2010 5056 Clark, op. cit. 5057 Actually, it was two: 1948 Bronze in the coxed-pairs, 1952 eliminated in the reps in the eight. 1399