In the first heat, we led from the start, but were quickly
overhauled by the West German crew, who had won the worlds in 1983 and in
1985. They were the pre race favorites
to repeat. We finished third, losing to
the Czechs, but doing so in an unusual manner.
Espy was our "stroke oar", meaning he sat closest to the stern and led
the crew. He had decided, on his own,
that in order to maximize our chances to get into the final, we should finish
third in the heat, which would presumably give us the easiest semi final. So, half way down the 2,000 meter course, he
began to reduce the rate of striking (meaning we went from rowing 37 strokes
per minute to as low as 28). This
reduced our speed as well and allowed the Czechs to come up on us.
John, Ted, and myself had not been informed of this plan and
began to make our displeasure known. We
were, in fact, arguing. It did us no
good, of course, because Espy controlled the rate of striking. The Czechs saw that the Americans were
arguing, which was in itself unusual, and thought we had something up our
sleeves. So, they slowed down as well. As we approached the line, however, they
figured out that we were not being clever, we were just being stupid, so they
took off again and finished a solid second.
We came behind in a leisurely third, in accordance with Espy's well
rehearsed plan.
Ted was less than amused, pointing out that we had just
assured ourselves of the hardest semifinal possible, including the East
Germans, the West Germans, the Soviet Union,
and the British. Appropriately
chastened, Espy vowed to be more attentive to the actual race plan in the
future. Which, however, didn't help our
semi final draw.
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