THE WORLD COMES FULL CIRCLE were an unknown quantity as a coxless- four. “We were only able to carve out a few days to be there before racing started, so we were still reeling a bit as the racing began in earnest, and we struggled a bit through the heats and semis. Heat 3 1 CAN 2 USA 3 POL Semi-final 2 1 GBR 2 SLO 3 USA 4 CZE 5 ITA1 6:00.49 6:02.38 6:05.33 4 CHN 6:17.54 6:02.57 6:05.24 6:06.80 6:09.16 6:11.67 6 ROM 6:17.09 “I felt like we really didn’t have our best stuff in the earlier races but we began to feel a lot more comfortable as we approached the final. “I would have to say that during the fi- nal race everything came together really well. J.R. and Bryan have great communi- cation, and the whole thing seemed pretty seamless. Beau is like clockwork, amazing- ly steady, and I certainly felt at the top of my game.”8223 J.R.: “It was one of the most fun races I’ve ever been in. Bryan and I always used to come from behind in international compe- tition until Athens, until we finally figured out how to get things going and could get ahead right away. Even in the national se- lection regattas, we’d always screw around, and it wouldn’t be until like 800 meters into the race that we could push ahead. “So in the fours final in Lucerne, we were content just to stay in contact early. Our competition came from Canada, the priority boat from a country which was the 8223 Beery, op. cit. defending World Champion in both the eights and the fours,8224 and from defending Olympic Champion Great Britain, with Pinsent and Cracknell in that country’s pri- ority boat.”8225 Beery: “My mindset was simply to ex- pend as much as I could to try to keep us close during the race. I had rowed with Bryan enough to realize that if we were in striking distance at the end of the race, then Bryan could definitely close it out.”8226 In the Lucerne coxless-fours final, Aus- tralia, Slovenia and Poland were not a factor after 500 meters. Canada in Lane 3 set the pace for Great Britain in Lane 4 beside them, gaining a deck in the first 500 and gradually expanding that out to half a length by 1,500. The U.S. boat way over in Lane 1 stead- ily lost ground to leader Canada in the first half of the race, crossing the 1,000 meter mark in third, 2.77 seconds behind the Ca- nadians. J.R.: “We were just slightly open water down at the 1,000, but Bryan and I, no mat- ter how far down we are, we always think we can win. I know if I work really hard, I might be able to make things happen. 8224 Mike Spracklen: “In 2002, the Eight won the World Championship in Seville. Then Bar- ney Williams, Jake Wetzel and Tom Herschmil- ler arrived in Victoria in the following winter of 2002/3, all wanting a seat in the crew. At the end of the winter, they were good athletes, and the Eight could have been strengthened, but that crew was a proven unit and I could see a good four with them and Cam Baerg at bow. They agreed, providing I would coach them as an equal unit to the Eight. From that moment I re- garded them as equal in terms of priority. Both crews won Gold in Milan and were capable of winning in Athens.” – personal correspondence, 2011 8225 Read, op. cit. 8226 Beery, op. cit. 2305
