THE WORLD COMES FULL CIRCLE be that split second of total shutdown, so that there is no check. “That’s the critical component. Quiet into the front end!”8231 Beery: “That was probably the most ex- hilarating, risky and challenging race I’ve ever been in. I was certainly humbled and grateful to have gotten to compete against the likes of Pinsent, Cracknell and the Cana- dian Four. “After the race we sat quietly with Coach Nielson, and it was a nice moment for all of us to share . . . It appeared that af- ter all of the difficulties of training and the surrounding tension . . . we were finally on our way. “There were all sorts of rumors about how and why we had won . . . ranging from the fact that the other boats didn’t see us, or we had an advantage in the outside lane, or that Alex Partridge (one of my absolute favorite athletes to race against and hang out with) was hurting. “The next day J.R. was telling me that Partridge had collapsed his lung, 8232 and I was deeply concerned. I asked, ‘When?’ “‘Yesterday.’ “‘Did he get in a fight at the party?’ “‘No. It happened during the racing. “I said, ‘Man, that is weird, because last night at the party he came up to me with a giant fishbowl he had poured out. It was filled with water and drinking straws, he kept insisting that I drink from giant fish- bowl because he said I needed to hydrate.’ “When I think of J.R. talking during the race, shaking Matt Pinsent’s hand on the dock, and Alex Partridge forcing me to drink from a fishbowl . . . I just have to shake my head and laugh. From beginning to end the whole experience was surreal . . . and price- less!”8233 8231 Read, op. cit. 8232 See Chapter 136. 8233 Beery, op. cit. Matthew Pinsent: “These J.R. passages made me cry with laughter. Brilliant stuff! “I still maintain the U.S. Four would never have had the race they had if they had been between the Canadians and us in Lu- cerne. No doubt, the lane draw made a dif- ference. Whether it was weather, wind or line of sight, they just had unnatural speed in the last 500. “If you see J.R. any time soon, tell him a) I said so, and b) I’m really glad they end- ed up out of the event in Athens!”8234 J.R.: “What was cool about Lucerne was that it sent a loud and clear message that we were not just a one-boat country and that Bryan and I weren’t the only Americans who could row in small boats. “The Canadian and the British Fours were the high hats, the Olympic favorites, and we disrupted their whole summer. “So then when they put us back in the eight, we had a huge mental advantage. The Canadian and the British Fours were their priority boats, and for us it had been just fun! “Lucerne was so critical that sum- mer!!!!”8235 Jeff Klepacki: “I hope that people don’t forget that race. That upset in Lucerne was so significant in the realm of world rowing, but it seemed to get overshadowed because they went on to win the eights in Athens. I was hoping that Mike would keep that four together and make it one of the best show- downs in Olympic history.”8236 (Later in the summer in Athens, Britain beat Canada by perhaps an inch for the Gold Medal in a race for the Ages!8237) Meanwhile, the two American eights did very well at Lucerne, but Canada remained the dominant crew in the world. 8234 Pinsent, personal correspondence, 2007 8235 Read, op. cit. 8236 Klepacki, op. cit. 8237 See Chapter 136. 2307
