THE ERA OF POLARIZATION and the problem of recovery from the trip to Europe. “All of these factors worked against the double and quad that raced in Europe and contributed to their defeat in the Trials. The first factor, i.e., the shorter time available for selection also led or contributed to my failure to properly recognize Brad Lewis’ and Paul Enquist’s potential. Had I more time and done a better job in that area, both the double and quad might have been stronger.”7359 More Plot Twists Within days, Brad and Paul were at an impasse. Brad wanted to train the last month before the Olympics in California. Paul insisted on returning with the rest of the Trials-winners to Dartmouth. By the time Brad had finally given in and arrived in Hanover, Biglow had approached Paul about the two of them rowing the double again and letting Brad row the single after all. Paul told him he didn’t care. It was up to Brad. So John asked him. Brad was understandably stunned when he heard about Paul’s response, but still he thought about the offer for a day as he and Paul rigged a new boat for the Olympics. Then impulsively he decided to grasp the opportunity to row the single, his goal all year long, but by this time, Biggie had changed his mind once again, of course. After extracting a promise that their conversation would never be shared with Paul, Brad walked down to Paul’s room and said, “Let’s get to work.”7360 Couldn’t make this stuff up. Seriously! 7359 Parker, Review of ‘83 and ‘84 sculling programs with suggestions for the future, memo to Men’s Olympic Rowing Committee, September 24, 1984 7360 Lewis, op. cit., p. 138 Olympic Doubles Competition Fast forward through a month of more training and shadow rowing and inspirational tapes to Lake Casitas. Lewis: “In the opening heat, we were all primed, got to the start . . . Êtes-vous prêt? Partez! . . . we crank, we’re in pretty good shape . . . they ring the bell, false start. “What the hell? Somebody must have jumped. They have a guy with a red pylon, and he walks the length of the starting platform, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all the way to Lane 6 and places the pylon in front of us. “Jim Dietz used to say there’s a fine line between a false start and a fast start. Apparently, they had let an obvious false start go in the previous heat, so they were determined to knuckle down and send a message with our race. “So the next start, we just had to sit there, count to three and make sure everyone is well away, and now we’ll go . . . because two false starts and you’re out, and it does happen. People get eliminated in the Olympics! “So we spotted everybody a couple of lengths and had to grind, grind, grind and work our way back. We got through the whole field . . . and almost caught the Germans, came within a second or two. 1 FRG 2 USA 3 NOR 4 AUT 5 SUI 6 MEX 6:36.70 6:38.21 6:43.01 6:43.10 6:51.48 6:57.01 “So we were sent to the reps, and that turned out to be really good because it gave us another chance to race. We got a pretty good draw, but Finland was in our race. We were rowing against Karppinen’s brother!7361 The two brothers had been third in the Worlds the previous year. 7361 Reima Juhanna Karppinen, 6’4” 193cm 199lb. 90kg 2049
