THE SPORT OF ROWING back stop, bring their backs into play and finish off the stroke, whereas the other scull- ers around them, Germany and Russia, tend to sit upright more and coordinate the stroke more effectively, perhaps.”8659 Tonks: “No points for style. It’s all about winning. People used to criticise Rob Waddell’s style. You’d look at Rob, and his body’d be all over the place. You look at his blades, and his blades would be beauti- ful. He had phenomenal bladework, very good bladework, and people used to com- plain about the twins being not very good technically. You’ve got to look at what makes the boat go. “Ballerinas, they train and train all day. Perfect timing. Perfect technique. You take a crew, and some coaches train them and train them to have the perfect look, but how are they going to go faster, how are they going to hold that technique under pressure? You could get a crew rowing perfectly . . . like a ballerina, but you’ve got to get the bowball across the line. That’s the first re- quirement. You go right back to Fair- bairn,8660 and what did he say? You work the blade, control the blade, work the blade. “And we have physiologists now, psy- chologists now. The latest thinking is . . . you work the blade! [Huge laugh] We had a guy come and say . . . the new thing in England? You don’t worry about what you’re doing. You work the blade. [Another huge laugh] “I still read Fairbairn. I was just reading him the other week. You can just open it anywhere in the book and start reading. Brings you back to base one. What counts is makin’ that boat go fast, sending it on. The willowy sway of the hands away, And the water boiling aft . . . “That’s the Evers-Swindells! Did Fair- bairn write that?8661”8662 Topolski: “There’s no denying the pow- er of this New Zealand Pair, and look at the bow [Georgina] there. She’s driving the legs, and she gets on to the back stop. You’d call that bum-shoving perhaps, but she is so powerful that she pushes it well through the middle of the stroke, and they finish it off very, very strongly with a long, long finish.”8663 Topolski was absolutely correct about the power of the Evers-Swindell sisters. They had the top two ergometer scores in the world among women in 2005. And he was also right about Georgina partially shooting her slide. It’s obvious in the video frames in this chapter, at least in comparison to her sister. Presumably, Tonks has been working on it because it moderated every year between 2002 and 2008. New Zealand masters rower Evan Snyder offers some anecdotal observations: “I have met the Evers-Swindell twins and seen them row. Until they retired, both were faster in singles than the current #1 single sculler, Emma Twigg, but in every National Championship that I know of or have seen, Caroline always beat Georgina in the single by around 1 to 1.5 boat lengths, while Geor- gina always scored slightly better than Caro- line on her erg times. “One possible explanation is that the better ‘simultaneous connection’ Caroline had between her leg drive and back move- ment provided more boat speed on the wa- ter, while on the erg, Georgina was not pe- nalized for shooting her slide.”8664 8661 Yes, he did. These are the opening lines of The Oarsman’s Song, Fairbairn On Rowing, p. 8659 Topolski, FISA 2003 DVD commentary 8660 See Chapter 19. 89. See Chapter 19. 8662 Tonks, op. cit. 8663 Topolski, FISA 2003 DVD commentary 8664 Snyder, personal correspondence, 2010 2436
