THE ERA OF POLARIZATION At the 1983 Worlds in Duisburg, West Germany, Bob’s crews won a third consecutive Silver in the eights and came in fifth in the coxed-fours. Technique The 1984 Crew called themselves “fast and ugly,” but this was only half-true. They were actually a disciplined and fluid crew that was indeed fast enough to beat GDR twice in Lucerne before returning to the States for the Olympics. Their technique was Modern Orthodox, showing hybrid-concurrent use of legs and back, with leg motion dominating early. The pullthrough as a whole took its rhythm from the high arc of the back swing, generating very strong surge to the finish. Legs ended much earlier than with the Romanian crew, but the result was the same, Kernschlag with surge maintained to the release. Thorsness: “Bob talked a lot about placing the blade in the water with a backing motion to maximize the length, and then leg drive and get a quick change of direction. He’d shout ‘Cha Cha Cha’ as we took our catches. The 1986 Eight later had this printed on shirts with Bob’s picture. “There was also a big emphasis on hanging your weight on straight arms for the first phase of leg drive and accelerating the handle into and around the back end of the stroke with no rhythm breaks, like a bicycle chain going around the sprocket. “Shins were to be perpendicular at the catch, and the body swung open in a ‘C’ shape rather than like a door.”7743 The overall approach was very similar to the Modern Orthodox Technique of Thor Nilsen, Kris Korzeniowski and Giuseppe La Mura, coach of the Abbagnale brothers: strong initial leg drive, unifying back swing, 7743 Ibid. late arm break, back and arms finishing together to produce strong, consistent acceleration all the way to the send at the finish. Arms broke especially late and finished concurrently with the back to complete the surging pullthrough. This was delivered well and consistently by all with the sole exception of Carie Graves in the 4-seat, the tallest, strongest and most experienced member, who omitted the backswing to the finish and completed her pullthrough with her arms only. Carie Graves In 1984, Carie Graves was a relatively new phenomenon in American women’s rowing. Throughout history, most U.S. rowers had ended their competitive careers when they graduated from college. This began to change for the men only after World War II. The 1948 Washington Olympic Coxed-Four tried to come back after graduation in 1952 but fell just short.7744 Logg and Price, the 1952 Rutgers Olympic Champion Coxless-Pair,7745 and the 1952 Navy Olympic Champion Eight7746 got back together after a couple of years and fell just short at the 1956 Olympic Trials. Fifer and Hecht, the 1952 Stanford Olympic Coxed-Pair,7747 got back together after three years and won Olympic Gold in the coxless- pairs in 1956. In the United States, serious women’s National Team rowing began only in the early 1970s, and Carie, a junior at Wisconsin, had stroked the first National Camp Eight, the 1975 World Silver Medal 7744 See Chapter 61. 7745 See Chapter 81. 7746 See Chapter 64. 7747 See Chapter 81. 2159
