THE SPORT OF ROWING 1976.7509 However, beginning in the 1970s, athletes upset at not being selected for U.S. teams regularly began suing the American federation. Increasingly, U.S. coaches began to carefully document verifiable and presumably objective test results to back up their selection decisions, and inevitably quantifiable data such as seat race and ergometer results came to be relied on more and more. During these decades, the U.S. National Team system had begun turning out rowers who were not shy to express and act on their grievances. Coach Ted Nash7510 developed a reputation for gathering disgruntled camp rejects and molding them into world-class crews. His 1986 World Champion Coxless- Four had contained none other than Dan Lyons, with Chris Clark also a candidate before he was sidelined by injury. In 1987, U.S. National Coach Kris Korzeniowski7511 was quoted by Topolski as describing Chris Clark as “a difficult kid who can be quite disruptive.”7512 In return, Clark felt that Korzo had treated him unfairly in 1985, choosing another athlete for the U.S. Eight, a man whom Clark had beaten both on the ergometer and in seat racing.7513 Gill: “His sulky, aggressive attitude made everyone wary of him and accounts for the lack of respect many of the British oarsmen had for him in the period before Christmas.”7514 As discussed in Chapter 8, the long- standing English tradition of giving all power to the Oxford and Cambridge Boat 7509 See Chapter 114. 7510 See Chapter 132. 7511 See Chapter 124. 7512 Topolski, p. 211. Martin Cross quoted an unnamed American coach describing Clark as “a sensitive, bright guy, he doesn’t make wars. He’s just a surfer from California.” – p. 134 7513 Gill, p. 47 7514 Gill, p. 61 Club Presidents is fraught with challenges. The challenge that eventually proved fatal at Oxford in 1987 was that their president did not automatically command the esteem of his peers, especially newcomers to the group who did not respect the long and storied tradition that gave him his power. Further, his position as both President and candidate for a seat in the boat represented both a perceived and a real conflict of interest. Chris Clark on Bowside Early on during the 1986/87 year at Oxford, it was recognized by Coach Topolski that with Americans Chris Huntington, Chris Penny and Chris Clark added to Brits Tom Cadoux-Hudson, 6’5” 196cm 201lb. 91kg, and Gavin Stewart, 6’8½” 204cm 230lb. 104kg, there was a great deal more size and talent on strokeside than on bowside. Cadoux-Hudson and Tony Ward, the Brit who had narrowly missed making the 1986 Blue Boat and could row both sides, were encouraged to elect bowside, which they cheerfully did, and Topolski insisted that Chris Clark do likewise.7515 Initially, Clark complied and spent the majority of the fall on bowside. Topolski: “I would not have been able to use [Clark] on the strokeside, since it would have left me with the four biggest men all sitting on the same side and weighing between them almost an extra man again more than the bowside. They were, for the most part, stronger and far taller than the men on the other side.”7516 Injury Dan Lyons: “Chris Clark was my pair- partner at home, and the previous June he 7515 Gill, p. 61, reports that Clark volunteered. 7516 Topolski, p. 192 2092
