THE SPORT OF ROWING “I couldn’t speak German, and Reiche couldn’t speak English, but when I walked my boat down to the water we would pass right next to each other, and he would wink at me. I loved that. “Later at the Olympics in 1984, I never felt that close to the other athletes. The Heat Biglow: “I remember going into the heat in 1982, and I hadn’t really thought through all the details, like if I would get a better lane if I raced hard in the heat even if I was going to lose. Harry just said, ‘Race hard. Let’s see what you can do.’ “So I raced hard. “Reiche was out ahead of me, but I came back on him, and it was really close at the end. “We were neck and neck, like it had been with Tiff in the Northeast Regionals, where you row next to someone for thirty strokes and your legs really start to burn. If they’re a little bit ahead or a little bit behind, you can sort of ease up just a little bit, but if they’re right next to you, it really keeps you honest. “I think he had to work really, really hard to beat me, and it was, I’m thinking, 0.1 seconds. “Somebody said that they heard Reiche ask his coach, ‘What are we going to do now?’ The Final Biglow: “In the final, when I raced Reiche again, I remember thinking I never go off hard enough. “‘I’ve got to go off hard,’ I thought, but It seemed like an I couldn’t do it! impossibility.7100 7100 It turns out that it was indeed an “impossibility” to go off the line hard in “I went off the start, and Reiche was out to a length on me really quickly, and then the race unfolded.”7101 Vasily Yakusha, 6’4” 194cm 209lb. 95kg, Centraliy Sportiviy Klub Armii Minsk, the 1980 Olympic Singles Silver Medalist, took the lead in the first 500 and then dropped his rating to 29 as Reiche pushed past him by half a length before the 1,000. In the third 500, Biglow rowing 33 separated himself from the rest of the pack, and at 1,250 he raised his rating to 36 and began to move on the two leaders. Biglow: “I started my sprint with 750 to go because Harry Parker told me to. He said, ‘So far, no one has ever been able to come back on you. You’ve rowed faster than everyone in the last 500, so why don’t we start the sprint earlier?’ So we did, and I found that I actually was at my limit.”7102 By the time the three leaders crossed the 1,500 meter mark, Biglow had moved past Yakusha into second place, only a half- length down on Reiche. Yakusha then made his own move with 400 to go, raising his stroke rate to 37, repassing Biglow and moving up to within just a meter of Reiche at the finish line. Biglow, also at 37, was unable to close on the GDR sculler and finished just over half a length behind the first two boats, earning his second consecutive World Championship Bronze Medal. Biglow: “I never knew that I had been ahead of the Russian with 500 to go. I thought I always was behind him. He was way over on the other side of the course. “It was a pretty exciting race to rewatch.”7103 Biglow’s sliding-rigger boat. See the extensive discussion in Chapter 140. 7101 Biglow, personal conversation, 2008 7102 Ibid. 7103 Ibid. 1986
