THE SPORT OF ROWING colored by my doing better in those years, but I felt I was able to focus much more and enjoy the racing and not be distracted by all the peripheral activities of the media and the fanfare, which was kind of wasted on me. I didn’t even go to the opening ceremony at the Olympics.”7367 The Olympic Singles field on Lake Casitas did not include defending World Champion Rüdiger Reiche, who was missing due to the Soviet-led boycott of the Los Angeles Games. However, in Lucerne the previous month Reiche had lost to both the two-time defending Olympic Champion Pertti Karppinen of Finland and the three- time World Champion Peter-Michael Kolbe of West Germany, both of whom were participating in the Games, so the field was only slightly diluted by his absence. John Biglow drew both Karppinen and Kolbe in his opening heat. Halberstam: “[Biglow] went out very quickly, which was unusual for him, but he gradually fell behind. Kolbe had taken the early lead; and then, in the last few hundred meters, Karppinen had made his move. “Kolbe did not contest. This would be Karppinen’s race without a challenge. Biglow, falling further and further back, was struggling. Known for his powerful finishing sprints, he appeared tired at the end. Karppinen beat him by ten seconds; Kolbe, easing himself in, by three.”7368 John was forced to attempt to advance through the repêchages. Halberstam: “The rep the next day was relatively easy. All he had to do was be among the top three finishers to make the semi. He wanted to win it, however, because Harry Parker had charted and projected the semis, and he drew an easier semi if he won. 7367 Biglow, op. cit. 7368 Halberstam, p. 196 “He finished first handily, but he had not been able to coast through on three- quarter pressure. “In the semi he felt tired. At 500 meters he was sixth. The work was harder than it should have been. For the first time he began to worry about making the final. “Slowly he passed some of the oarsmen.”7369 Pulling his hardest at 33 in the third 500, Biglow moved up on the two leaders, Ibarra and Kolbe, who were cruising, the former at 29 and the latter 27. Halberstam: “In the end he finished third, 2.5 seconds behind Kolbe. Biglow was not pleased with himself, but he had made the final and he had two days of rest.”7370 The Final Back in 1984, jumping the start was quite commonplace in FISA regattas, and Biglow was often the honest one left at the start floats. On Sunday in Lucerne a month earlier, he found himself open water into sixth place within ten strokes because he was the only sculler not to anticipate the starter’s commands. He had had only marginally better success in the preliminaries on Lake Casitas, but in the final he timed it perfectly and left the starting area tied for the lead. It did not last long. In twenty strokes four boats had open water in him. By the 500, John was sixth, three lengths behind the leader, Peter-Michael Kolbe. Biglow: “Nothing obvious happened like a crab. I got off the starting line, and I didn’t feel any different except that I was weaker and slower than normal.”7371 7369 Halberstam, pp. 196-7 7370 Halberstam, pp. 196-7 7371 Biglow, op. cit 2056
