THE SPORT OF ROWING Allsopp: “After the Pan Am Games, Gregg went back to his single while Tiff and I were reformed into a quad at 2 and 3 with Al Shealy stroking and John Van Blom7144 in the bow. Under Coach Peter Raymond7145’s gifted eye, within a couple of weeks of forming we placed fifth at the 1979 World Championships. “Al was a great stroke, and Tiff with all his gusto was surrounded by long, smooth scullers. The shell moved really well and was a joy to row, especially at steady state. “At the 1979 Worlds, we rowed down the Soviet quad to make the final. In 1980, that same quad tested positive for steroids before Luzern, so they withdrew to cleanse their systems before taking the Olympic Silver in Moscow. “Who knows how we would have fared had the boycott7146 not kept us home. “At Henley the next year, 1980, Tiff and I advanced to the Double Sculls Challenge Cup final. A little known fact is that in the heats, we beat a British double that included a young Stephen Geoffrey Redgrave.7147 That might have been Redgrave’s only Henley loss.7148 “The night before the final, Tiff ate some salmonella-tainted Indian food and got violently sick. Always game, Tiff and I raced anyway. Harry Parker, knowing our predicament, followed us on his bike. “At first, I felt totally ignored by Harry, who was cheering, ‘Way to go, Tiff! Way to go, Tiff!’ until I felt Tiff run completely out of gas. In that same instant, I heard Harry cheering ‘Way to go, Chris! Way to go Chris!’ “We achieved our goal of not losing to an outstanding Canadian double [Victoria 7144 See Chapter 88. 7145 See Chapter 103. 7146 See later in this chapter and Chapter 140. 7147 See Chapter 130. 7148 an exaggeration, but Steve did win the Diamond Sculls that year. City R.C., Pat Walter, 6’3” 190cm 192lb. 87kg, and Bruce Ford, 6’2” 187cm 185lb. 84kg] by Henley’s ‘easily’ verdict, but we sure paid a price. Tiff passed out and had to be revived in the medical tent, and I was as spent as I had ever been. “At Luzern in 1980, I stroked the Olympic quad with Tiff, Brad Lewis, and Tom Howes. It was okay. The first day we didn’t make the final, and the second day we made it and placed fourth.”7149 Tiff Wood, Single Sculler Tiff had been a 1976 Olympic sweep spare who was never called upon in Montréal. He was team captain of the U.S. Olympic men’s rowers in 1980 and a member of the U.S. Quad that raced in Lucerne but missed the Olympics in Moscow because of the U.S. boycott. Even though most of his teammates retired after the disappointment of ‘80, Tiff couldn’t stop there. He had unfinished business. He would be 31 in 1984, a generation older and more experienced than most of the others trying out for the team, but the Los Angeles Games represented Tiff’s last chance to row in an Olympics, and he decided his best chance would be in the singles. Rowing USA: “In 1981, when Tiff hoped to take over the single sculling slot, John Biglow emerged as the top sculler. In 1982, Tiff hoped to take that slot away from him, but flipped his boat in the Trials.”7150 Sean Colgan: “In 1982, I was spending most of my time running as I was working two weeks on and two weeks off in Dubai. At the Trials I tied Tiff in the heat and was leading him by a length when he flipped in the final. 7149 Allsopp, op. cit. 7150 U.S. Athlete Profiles, Rowing USA, June/July 1984, p. 44 1994
