To the readers of · PDF filehurry and email me directly at pmal- lory@ ... This chapter is a great example of how ... studies teaching post at Ridley College

THE SPORT OF ROWING

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This latest excerpt on row2k is a celebration

of Harry Mahon, the legendary globe-

trotting New Zealand coach during the last

quarter of the 20th Century. The tenth anni-

versary of his passing is this coming May,

and it is a fine time for a whole new group

get to know him.

This chapter is a great example of how

fortunate I have been to have athletes and

coaches collaborate with me to write their

chapter. I never got to meet Harry, but I feel

like I know him thanks to his many devoted

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THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

1745

133. Harry Mahon

New Zealand 1982-84 – Zeno Müller – Rob Waddell –

Greg Searle – Great Britain 2000

The Age of Enlightenment was marked

by the free flow of ideas across borders and

the emergence of coaches able to approach

rowing technique with a fresh set of eyes.

One such man was the late Harold Thomas

Mahon,6231

who worked his magic on four

continents.

6231

For Americans, Mahon rhymes with “Ron”

with a satisfied “ah” sound, as in “mahn.” As

spoken by Brits, Aussies and Kiwis, you might

also detect perhaps the hint on of an “r” sound

before the n. “Harry might be quietly amused

Peter Spurrier

Harry Mahon

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1746

According to his 2001 obituaries in

London‟s The Times, The Guardian and

The Independent, Mahon was born in

Wanganui on the North Island of New

Zealand in 1942. His uncle and grandfather

had been rowers, and Harry joined the local

rowing club at an early age. He studied

geography at Victoria University.6232

Journalist Rachell Quarrell: “He

played rugby and rowed as a lightweight in

school and college.”6233

After graduation, he moved to the small

North Island town of Hamilton to teach

geography at Melville High School, a state-

funded day school. He soon joined the

newly founded Waikato Rowing Club.

In 1966, Mahon began coaching

students from Melville and from nearby

Fairfield College. Harry soon transformed

Waikato R.C. into “one of the most

successful clubs in the country.”6234

British Olympic Champion rower

Martin Cross: “He left New Zealand in

1969 for a geography and environmental

studies teaching post at Ridley College [in

St. Catharines, Ontario], Canada. He was

there for five years,”6235

taking a lightweight

coxless-four to the 1974 World Champion-

ships,6236

after which he returned to New

Zealand.

The Times of London: “[Mahon] came

to national prominence at the World

Championships in Amsterdam in 1977

when, in a David and Goliath struggle, his

unrated coxless-four took on an apparently

today at any difficulty in the pronunciation of his

name.” – Mark A. Shuttleworth, South Africa 6232

Obituary, The Guardian, May 24, 2001 6233

Rachel Quarrell, Obituary, The Independent

of London, May 25, 2001 6234

Obituary: Harry Mahon - Rowing coach who

trained the victorious British VIII at last year‟s

Olympics in Sydney, The Times of London, May

24, 2001 6235

Cross, p. 47 6236

Mary Stevens, Magic Mahon Harry, Regatta

Magazine, May, 2001, p. 15

invincible East German crew and only

narrowly missed the Gold Medal.”6237

Tony Brook, bow-seat on the 1982 New

Zealand World Champion Eight: “In 1979,

his under-23 NZ Colts eight took shape, and

many of this crew rowed in his later World

Champion eights.”6238

Quarrell: “In 1981, Mahon took charge

of the New Zealand national men‟s

eight,”6239

this in a country used to

improbable success in rowing , thanks to his

famous predecessor, Rusty Robertson.6240

New Zealand Men

Tony Popplewell, a member of the

1964 New Zealand Eight: “I was the

manager for the NZ team when Harry came

on stream as coach of the very successful

Colts eights in 1979 and 1980, and then after

the eight that year failed to qualify for the

final at the World Championships in Munich

in 1981, Harry was moved up to Coaching

Coordinator.

“A big learning experience for Harry

and for the crew.”6241

Dudley Storey:6242

“I had been thrown

in the deep end in „82 as team manager, and

I didn‟t know Harry very well at all. The

year before for the first time in sixteen

years, New Zealand had not made the A

final in the men‟s eights, and I was

mouthing off, saying stuff like, „All the

work that we did in the „60s, you guys have

stuffed it all up,‟ that sort of thing, and I was

able to give a lot of this to Harry, and he

listened to a fair bit of it and very seldom

did he ever argue with anything I had to say.

“I was really only the manager, but I had

a lot of input into what he was saying and

6237

The Times of London, op cit. 6238

Brook, personal correspondence, 2008 6239

Quarrell, op cit. 6240

See Chapter 120. 6241

Popplewell, personal correspondence, 2008 6242

See Chapter 120.


1747

what he was doing. Some of it he did

reluctantly, and some of it he took on board.

“Prior to us leaving New Zealand, I had

the whole schedule from the first day we

started rowing, right through to coming back

on the plane, and of course we called it an

Entebbe Raid, because we were really only

there a month, because we didn‟t have the

money, so in „82 I had all these things laid

out. One of the things I had in there was a

big party a fortnight out from the heats. „If

you‟re going to get drunk, that‟s the only

chance you have to do it.‟

“I went and found this place right up in

the bloody hills somewhere, away from

everybody so the guys could make as much

noise as they liked. If they got drunk, I‟d

drive them back, and of course it was

something for the people to look forward to

as well.

“„Time out just for us! Don‟t have to do

nothin‟ for Dud, nothin‟ for Harry.‟

“So up we go. A few of them got drunk.

Most of them didn‟t, but they all came back.

Two of the boys got back about 5 o‟clock in

the morning, and those two actually needed

to do this. One wanted to fight all the time,

but he also was the best racer that we had.

“Harry, for some reason or other, got

quite livid about this. Seven o‟clock comes,

and everybody‟s out of bed. The

arrangement had been, „You can go and get

pissed, boy, but you had better be there at 7

o‟clock the next morning.‟ Sure enough,

everybody was . . . in various states of

disrepair, but they were there. Harry takes

them out on the water and gives them a hard

workout and also gives them a bit of a

dressing down. He thought they shouldn‟t

be doing this and should be doing that.

“I didn‟t know anything about this

because I was back recovering m‟self. The

guys come back after the row and say to me,

„Oh, bloody Harry has given us a chew out

this morning. We thought this was all part

of the plan.‟

“„Of course it was. It‟s what it‟s all

about!‟

“„Well, Harry‟s chewed our ears, and

he‟s told us we‟re a bloody disgrace to the

bloody New Zealand blazer and all sorts of

stuff.‟

“And I thought bug this, so I grabbed

Harry, dragged him into the dining room, sat

him down and said, „We had an arrangement

before we left New Zealand that this was

what we were going to do. You cannot

change the bloody rules half-way through,

not without giving people advance notice, so

the best thing you can do, Harry Mahon, is

to get off your ass, get across to those two

guys particularly but the whole eight

generally, and apologise!‟

“And he did. Harry was man enough to

say, „I did make a mistake. We did say we

were going to do this. I‟m sorry.‟

“They won the race right there and then,

a fortnight before the man even said go.”6243

The 1982 World Championship

Cross: “In 1982 and 1983, I watched

from the sidelines as his eights took the

World title by storm. It wasn‟t the fact that

they won. It was the way they did it,

moving with deceptive ease.”6244

Brook: “People always said you could

recognize instantly a Harry Mahon-coached

boat by how together the crew looked when

working on the drive and then how

leisurely and relaxed they seemed on the

recovery, whatever the rating.

“Contrast the conflicting styles of the

U.S. crew and the New Zealand eight in

1982, the USA with a pronounced shoulder

snatch at the catch, tension in the shoulders,

neck and face, working so hard on the drive

and on the recovery. They were first

through the 500 and 1,000 and were

6243

Storey, personal conversation, 2010 6244

Cross, p. 47

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1748

obviously a fine crew, but they seemed to

have „shot their bolt‟ by 1,200 metres.

“Five lanes away, we were relaxed on

the recovery, conserving energy, and at the

catch there was no tension in our faces or

necks as it was all happening off the

footstretcher with the big leg push.

“There was good compression at the

front stop, but our bodies were upright. We

were not the strongest crew in the final, but

our style was effective because there was no

skying and no missed water at the catch as

the blades and feet locked with the water.

“See the legs go down together,

explosive off the footstretcher [my

emphasis].”6245

In fact, it was the American crew who

had the truly „explosive‟ force application

upon entry. They put all their Kernschlag

leg drive into the front half and then

6245

Brook, op cit.

continued their impressive effort in a two-

part pullthrough.

By contrast, in the New Zealand boat,

their fingers-to-toes Schubschlag effort

began instantaneously but smoothly

persisted from entry all the way to their

ferryman‟s finish. The New Zealand

explosiveness that Brook refers to seems to

be an attempt to describe the lack of any

hesitation in the transition from recovery to

pullthrough.

In this context, “explosive” means

“instantaneous.” This use of the word has

led to similar misunderstandings throughout

rowing history.

Brook: “The blades „simply

disappeared‟ at the catch, as if by magic.

The crew moved effortlessly from forward

mode to drive phase with no discernable

check on the boat.

“We were fourth through the 500 and

second through the 1,000, but doing it with

FISA 1982 Video

1982 United States Men’s Eight

Fourth Place, Rotsee

5 John Terwilliger 6‟5” 195cm 201lb. 91kg

0°, +35° to -15°, 0-6, 0-9, 5-10, Modern Orthodox Kernschlag

Tight shoulders, explosive entry, rebound, then second effort to the release.


1749

ease and energy left to „do battle‟ as we

reached the 1,200. Our race plan was:

20-stroke start at 43-44.

settle into 38 racing beat

„thinking 10 strokes‟ at 1:30 out to adjust

rating to 37, our optimum racing beat, and

to look for length and togetherness.

at 2:30 out, a 30-stroke maximum push

off the legs.

at 4:00 out, another big 10.

at 1,500, begin wind for home.

at 250 metres to go, wind it up.

“I will always remember how „fresh‟ we

all felt at the 1,000m mark, sitting tall,

FISA 1982 Video

New Zealand Men’s Eight

1982 World Champion, Lucerne

6 Dave Rodger, 5 Roger White-Parsons, 4 Chris White

+5°, +30° to -15°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10, Classical Technique, hybrid-concurrent Schubschlag

Strong legs, late arm draw, ferryman‟s finish, Ratzeburg accelerated recovery.

Extremely relaxed and fluid technique.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1750

moving as one, feeling powerful off the

footstretcher and relaxed on the recovery, in

total control over the last 500m.”6246

New Zealand won going away.

Never concerned about the fast-starting

Americans, the Kiwis keyed their move off

the Soviets. After leading through 1,000

meters, the U.S. crew gradually faded to

fourth.

The 1983 Team

6246

Brook, op cit.

Storey: “Between „82 and „83, there

were little or no changes at the business end

of the boat and in the middle. Tony Brook

retired, and Nigel Atherfold replaced him.

Bruce Mabbot came in for Les O’Connell

[who moved to stroke of the soon-to-be

1983 World Champion New Zealand

Coxed-Four].

“They had won handsomely in „82, but

they actually got beaten in the heat at

Duisburg for the „83 year. In that heat,

Dave Rodger went back to 4, and Chris

White came up to 6 and they lost. It was

Tony Brook


1982 World Champion, Lucerne

1 NZL 5:36.99, 2 GDR 5:39.17, 3 URS 5:39.52, 4 USA 5:40.91, 5 FRG 5:43.99, 6 FRA 5:44.26

Bow Tony Brook 6‟2” 191cm 189lb. 86kg, 2 George Keys 6‟4” 19 cm 209lb. 95kg,

3 Les O’Connell 6‟4” 193cm 196lb. 89kg, 4 Chris White 6‟3” 190cm 207lb. 94kg,

5 Roger White-Parsons 6‟5” 196cm 198lb. 90kg, 6 Dave Rodger 6‟4” 192cm 203lb. 92kg,

7 Herb Stevenson 6‟3” 191cm 192lb. 87kg, Stroke Mike Stanley 6‟0” 182cm 187lb. 85kg,

Coxswain Andrew Hay

“The last 250m of the race – NZ eight in total control, rating 42, full stretch, powerful, blades in

perfect unison at the catch . . . What a testament to the coaching skills of Harry Mahon . . . ”

- Tony Brook


1751

hardly an argument, but I had a big

discussion with Harrying. I said, „You

should not be changing things this late.‟ He

said, „Oh, I think this is going to be right.‟

“By the time the repêchage came

around, I had convinced him to put it back

the way it was. They won the repêchage,

won the final.”6247

The 1983 World eights final at Duisburg

followed the pattern of the previous year. It

was Australia instead of the United States

that pushed the pace early, but New Zealand

was there to inherit the lead when the

Aussies were reeled in by the whole field

after 700 meters.

The Kiwis cracked the race open in the

third 500 and pushed their lead to nearly a

length. Although GDR closed a bit in the

final strokes, the win had seemed inevitable

since the 1,000.

6247

Storey, op cit.

The joy of the New Zealand oarsmen at

the medal dock was written on everyone‟s

faces as the crew looked forward to a

possible, even probable Olympic Gold

Medal in 1984.

The Perfect Rowing Stroke

Fellow New Zealand junior coach Tim

Richardson: “Harry and I both shared in the

incredibly good fortune of coming under the

influence of the late W.H. (Bill) Eaddy6248

ONZM, whose simple explanation of the

rowing stroke and the connection between

water, boat and body in a quick,

explosive6249

movement, gave both of us the

base from which to work in the quest for the

faster boat. Harry‟s willingness to innovate

and his confidence in his understanding of

biomechanics and boat dynamics became

6248

coach of Tauranga Boys‟ College in New

Zealand. 6249

i.e. instantaneous entry.

FISA 1983 Video


1983 World Champion, Duisburg

1 NZL 5:34.40, 2 GDR 5:35.9, 3 AUS 5:38.0, 4 URS 5:38.1, 5 FRA 5:39.3, 6 TCH 5:40.2

Bow Nigel Atherfold 6‟2” 189cm 196lb. 89kg, 2 George Keys 6‟4” 193cm 209lb. 95kg,

3 Barrie Mabbott 6‟5” 195cm 198lb. 90kg, 4 Chris White 6‟3” 190cm 207lb. 94kg,

5 Roger White-Parsons 6‟5” 196cm 198lb. 90kg, 6 Dave Rodger 6‟4” 192cm 203lb. 92kg,


Coxswain Andrew Hay

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1752

the hallmark of the man so many in rowing

admire and respect.

“In it all, we share one passion – Harry‟s

passion – rowing and the perfect rowing

stroke.”6250

Indeed, perfection became a quest that

drove Harry Mahon all his life.

Keystrokes, Rowing New Zealand‟s

newsletter: “It is interesting to note that in

his eight seasons with Waikato, their fifteen

premier titles have been achieved with a

variety of techniques as Harry slowly

developed his approach to what moved the

boats best.”6251

Harry Mahon: “I didn‟t really have

much guidance at all. I had rowed, and I

had a few coaches when I was young, and

the national coach, Rusty Robertson,6252

was highly respected with some pretty good

results. But he did not produce anything

written. It was a question of intuition,

keeping your eyes open and reading a

lot.”6253

Brook: “Harry‟s „perfect stroke‟

evolved over many years of trial and

experimentation.

“The „perfect stroke‟ required

immaculate [upper body] preparation for the

correct speed, angle and timing of all body

parts and blade to arrive at the front stop,

connect with the water and push off the foot

stretcher in one fluid movement, exactly in

tune with the speed of the boat.

“Harry worked on all aspects of the

stroke and stressed the importance of a firm

finish followed by weight over onto your

feet, relaxation forward as the boat moved

under you and you prepared for the next

stroke, placing the blade in the water „with

your feet‟ at the precise moment you arrived

at the front stop, and pushing off the

6250

www.rowing.org.uk/mahon.html 6251

Rowing the Mahon Way, Keystrokes, April

2005 6252


Qtd. by Stevens, op cit.

footstretcher with both legs and lower back

at the same time.

“„Hanging off the handle‟ was a

favourite term as the legs, lower back, torso,

shoulders and arms did their bit on the

drive.”6254

Rob Waddell, 2000 Olympic Singles

Champion: “If I remember distinct things

that he used to coach technically, a phrase

I‟ll always remember is „Just hang off it,‟

and „Use the arms as pieces of string.‟ The

speed and timing of the catch is another

thing that springs to mind.”6255

Simon Dennis, member of the 2000

Olympic Champion British Men‟s Eight:

“The impression I got in 2000 was that the

catch was what he felt was the hardest thing

for rowers to get right. However, he was

forever developing his thoughts on what

good rowing was.”6256

The rhythm of Harry‟s New Zealand

crews in the 1980s seemed to be an

evolution of the high-stroking “tick the boat

along” pullthrough coupled with the smooth,

accelerated recovery approach taught by

Karl Adam at Ratzeburger Ruderklub in the

1950s and „60s. As with Ratzeburg, the

athletes were large and well-muscled, but

they tended to row a smooth and relaxed

technique.

Coaching Style

Sonia Scown Waddell, twice a finalist

for New Zealand in the Olympic Single

Sculls, bow of the 2001 World Silver Medal

Quad and wife of 2000 Olympic Singles

Champion Rob Waddell: “The way Harry

coached was rhythmical. He coached in

almost a sing-song voice sometimes, trance-

like, as if he was in the boat with you. You

6254

Brook, op cit. 6255

R. Waddell, personal conversation, 2008 6256

Dennis, personal correspondence, 2008


1753

could feel in his voice what he was trying to

get you to do.”6257

Greg Searle, British World Bronze

Medalist Single Sculler in 1997: “When I

think of Harry, I struggle not to see him as a

„Star Wars‟ character. He was Yoda, the

wise one, and strong in him the Force was.

I‟m certainly very privileged to have

worked closely with him for the year that I

did.”6258

Cross: “With a balding head and

grayish beard, lines on his weather-beaten

face suggested wisdom born from years of

intent study of the movement of rowers and

their craft.

“Off the water, he is a man of few

words, but in a way, that adds to the

mystique because on the water his speech

flows endlessly, like the awareness of a

boat‟s movement that he is trying to unlock

in the minds of those he coaches.‟6259

Harry‟s drive for perfection was

unremitting.

Mahon: “Keep those hands moving out,

stretching out and separating . . . Feel you

are sitting there, and the boat is sucking you

towards it rather than the opposite way

around . . . No, too quick for the boat . . .

Steady with it . . . Steady with it . . . Better .

. . Hold your shoulders back, and just sit

there and watch your handles go away from

your body. Now you‟re feeling the boat

underneath your feet, running through the

water . . . Your hands are leading you . . .

The water that‟s running under you is telling

you when your handles will arrive at your

feet . . . That was good . . . Yeah, three in a

row where you picked it just right . . . ”6260

Pleasing Harry rarely came easy. One

New Zealand rower summed up the

6257

S. Waddell, personal conversation, 2008 6258

G. Searle, personal correspondence, 2008 6259

Cross, p. 37 6260

Qtd. By Cross, pp. 47-8

experience of being coached by Harry as

“no no no no no no no no no no yes no no

no no no no no no no no no no no . . . ”6261

Quarrell: “Swiss Olympic Sculling

Champion [Xeno Müller] describes with

relish how Mahon would have him row a

stroke at a time with one of his two oars:

plodding round in circles for hours on the

lake, until after hundreds of hissed „No‟s‟

came the single emphatic „Yes!‟”6262

Xeno: “The circles that I did on the

water were all about lifting the blade out,

feathering it and then dropping it in before

you would pull. I can do it eyes closed now,

but when I make people row, it is really

interesting to see that the gentle lift of the

blade on the square, then the flow into a

feather and then maintaining the height of

the feathered blade steadily so that you still

have a little bit of room to have the blade

squared without changing the handle height,

that‟s something that if you haven‟t really

thought about it and done it a few hundred

or a few thousand times, you will just

always be a little inconsistent, and the whole

goal is to be consistent over thousands of

strokes.

“So when Harry was coaching me, he

would say, „No no no no no GOOD no no

no no no no no no GOOD!‟

“He said to me, „Xeno, you do it . . . but

you need to do thousands of strokes the

same way.‟”6263

Quarrell: “His approach of smooth

efficiency gave his crews a graceful, flowing

style which was a delight to watch, and he

was most gifted at explaining verbally what

he wanted to see on the water.”6264

Mark A. Shuttleworth, who knew

Harry in South Africa: “Sometimes what

seemed to the rower to be trivial he would

quietly and continuously pursue in a such

6261

www.rowing.org.uk/mahon.html 6262


Müller, personal conversation, 2008 6264

Quarrell, op cit.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1754

way that the rower discovered, absorbed and

owned the improvement in her or himself,

finally also appreciating the importance of

the change. The small steady improvements

became real and fundamental. There was no

ego involved with Harry, so the ego of the

rower also took a holiday.

“Harry was so effective and admired

because he was unaware of and unconcerned

with admiration. He discussed with you

your discovery of the right way. He was

simply about helping people to row

better.”6265

Searle: “I remember him being very

particular on what it was he wanted me to be

doing. His magic was that he insisted that I

internalize what good felt like for myself. In

saying this, I mean he would discuss with

me what he wanted to see. I would say,

„Yes, I understand,‟ then look to move on.

He would not let until I had really effected

the change he was looking for.

“This could get into a painful process of

him saying „no, no, no‟ until eventually

there‟d be a „yes.‟

“Then he‟d say, „Did you get it?

Describe it,‟ or similar. Only when I knew

what good was like, for myself, could I then

move on.”6266

Robin Williams, Coach of Cambridge

University during Harry‟s last years: “I can‟t

coach like Harry, much as I would like to,

and in truth I haven‟t met anyone who can,

not exactly. The reason we think we can is

because his picture of the stroke was so

simple and well explained. That‟s why he

was successful with the rowers – they could

understand what he meant.”6267

Mahon: “Simplifying the presentation

of our information to our athletes can result

in the development of fast crews.”6268

6265

Shuttleworth, personal correspondence, 2008 6266

G. Searle, op cit. 6267

Williams, personal correspondence, 2008 6268

Programme, 1998 FISA Coaches‟ Confer-

ence, London, Ontario, Canada

Williams: “The ones who struggled

were the ones who could not grasp the

CONCEPT that we move the boat past the

blade rather than pull the oar through the

water. Anyone who tried to pull was in for a

very hard time! He would indeed say, „No,

no, no, no . . . „ endlessly until the poor

culprit would sometimes break down in

despair.

“Finally they would ask for help.

Harry‟s intransigence forced them to seek

another way, his way. They would ask for

further clarity, he would give it, they would

try again, and then, if they really had

grasped some of the concept, you might hear

a „yes,‟ which made you feel like the sun

was shining again and life could go on.”6269

Müller: “Then in 1992 after four years

of coaching, he came to see me in

Providence, Rhode Island on the Seekonk

River, and all of a sudden he finally said,

„Good . . . Good . . . Good . . . Good . . .

Good . . . „ and I started crying. I was

finally hitting the note, and I knew once I

started hitting the note, real speed was going

to open up.

“That was really great.”6270

Brook: “Harry was relentless in pursuit

of good technique, and in training he often

sat his motor boat right on the tip of your

blade with his „no, no, no, yes, no, no . . . „

for hours on end. He demanded change.”6271

Mahon: “I certainly do not set out to be

difficult. I would be really unhappy if I

thought I had upset anyone. I guess I see

potential and work hard to help someone

achieve that. If I did not care, then I would

not be so determined to help people.”6272

Brook: “The thing was that you could

feel the positive change happening in the

boat and the extra boat speed as a result, and

as a crew you were determined to build on

6269

Williams, op cit. 6270

Müller, op cit. 6271

Brook, op cit. 6272

Qtd. by Stevens, op cit, p. 17


1755

and hold the extra speed for hours on end.

Consistency became the goal, boat speed

and perfect balance were all important, and

all the time doing it „with ease.‟”6273

Searle: “The experience of working in a

crew with Harry coaching was often quite

amusing. He would happily have one

person from an eight or a four rowing alone

until eventually they got it for themselves.

“In this area he had far more patience

and also belief in you that you would

eventually get it, and in himself, that it was

the right thing to do, than other coaches I‟ve

worked with.”6274

Sonia Waddell: “One of Harry‟s

strengths is that he gave you such belief in

yourself. I found him an incredibly positive

coach. As far as he was concerned, you had

no weaknesses, and I think he was probably

like that with a lot of his athletes. He just

concentrated on your strengths and

concentrated on doing things well. He

didn‟t tell you what you weren‟t.

“For me, my size [5‟9” 176cm 148 lb.

67kg] became an issue with coaches in later

years, but with Harry I never knew that I

was perhaps not tall enough or perhaps not

heavy enough to be a heavyweight women‟s

single sculler because he never once said

that was an issue. He just always talked

about the positive things, you know, that I

had a good power-to-weight ratio and things

like that. He very much concentrated on

positives.”6275

Al Morrow,6276

Canadian Women‟s

Sweep Coach during the 1990s: “I think

Harry‟s success was because he kept it

simple, he was comprehensive in his

approach, his athletes really liked him, and

he did a lot of imaginative drills to teach

technique.

6273

Brook, op cit. 6274


S. Waddell, op cit. 6276

See Chapter 134.

“I liked the way his crews rowed. Way

back when I was first on the scene

internationally with my own crews that were

doing well, he said the same thing to me

about our women, so obviously we shared

some of the same views.”6277

Watermanship

Martin Cross, longtime member of

Thames Tradesmen Rowing Club, described

Mahon‟s boats as “just ghosting along

effortlessly.”6278

The first time those words

were used in this book, they came from the

mouth of George Pocock,6279

a champion

London professional sculler at the beginning

of the 20th Century, son of the Eton

boatbuilder and later a legendary North

American boatbuilder in his own right, an

eloquent preacher of the Thames

Waterman’s Stroke to generations of

rowers in his adopted home of the United

States.

For Harry, too, it was all about listening

to and feeling the boat. He would home in

on things like tightness in the shoulders,

leaning one way or the other, exaggerated

layback, slides too fast or too slow . . .

Harry Mahon was teaching

watermanship!

Brook: “Martin Cross described the NZ

eights of this era as „ghosting along,‟ and I

think this description is accurate. The lock,

drive and pressure on the foot stretcher from

eight pairs of legs and lower backs was

uniform and powerful, whether it was 24

rating or 38 rating.

“It looked and felt comfortable as the

boat was accelerated on the drive phase and

the boat was allowed „to do the work‟ on the

recovery phase as you „floated

forward,‟ letting it run under you as you

6277

Morrow, personal correspondence, 2008 6278

Cross, pp. 37, 49 6279

See Chapter 61.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1756

relaxed in anticipation of the

next accelerated drive off the footstretcher.

“„Work, then relax and float‟ became

the pattern, stroke after stroke, always the

same.”6280

Sonia Waddell: “I guess the main

theme of his coaching was about feeling the

boat. It was about not thinking about what

you were doing, just feeling the rhythm of

the boat, timing the blade in from that

rhythm and moving with the boat. It was

always about feeling and rhythm and not

thinking.

“With Harry we used to do a lot of

exercises. He was very big at getting the

hands away at the finish, so we used sit at

the back stops and just move the hands away

as fast as we could and get the blades in the

water. It had to be so fast. Again, it was all

about not thinking about it, doing it as fast

as your body and your mind allowed.

“We used to do a lot of rowing in the

pitch black, or we would have to close our

eyes. We would do kilometres with our eyes

closed in the quad, and we had to feel the

boat, and we had to time it.”6281

Not every aspect of Mahon‟s teachings

agreed completely with his Thames

Waterman forebears, but Harry was truly a

waterman at heart. In his own words:

relaxation – easily said, less easily achieved. Tightness of the body at the finish [results]

in poor finishes and awkward body

movements.

encouraging your rowers to sit and feel the

boat running. Hence the importance of

picking the boat up at the catch with no

hesitation on the front stop. Rushed

recoveries with knees coming up too soon,

[result] in arriving at the front stop

unprepared in body and mind for the catch

and [cause] unwanted body movements and

6280

Brook, op cit. 6281

S. Waddell, op cit.

pauses at the very place that they are not

wanted.

sculling being no different to rowing, and

providing the ideal vehicle for interpreting

the run of the boat – Watch the stern

movement.6282

The Influence of Thor Nilsen

Keystrokes: “Harry stressed his debt to

the influence of Thor Nilsen,6283

as

demonstrated at the 1981 Seminar, which

helped to crystallize his thinking on both

technique and training methods.”6284

Mahon: “There was a conference in

New Zealand run by Thor Nilsen and

Sigmund Strömme6285

that taught me a lot

about training. We began to introduce long

distance work, which had been overlooked

in New Zealand until then.”6286

Xeno Müller: “At some point,

information about lactate testing and high

altitude training started leaking from East

Germany over to the Western world. Thor

Nilsen applied these methods to his training

of the Italians, and I think we all learned it

from them.”6287

Brook: “Nilsen explained the idea of

long distance rows at firm pressure and

consistent technique. Harry put it into

practice with his 1982 eight and added the

„Mahon magic,‟ the „ghosting effect‟

described by Martin Cross, which was the

„hallmark‟ of all Harry‟s crews.

“The fitness levels built up by hours

training on and off the water allowed the

crew to move „as one.‟ ”6288

6282

Keystrokes, op cit. 6283



Norwegian College of Physical Education

and Sport 6286

Qtd. by Stevens, op cit. 6287


Brook, op cit.


1757

Force Application

Harry definitely taught Schubschlag

force application:

Energy expended on the catch is not

available for the end of the stroke.6289

A large white frothy puddle suggests a

waste of energy in that the oarsman is

pulling rather than concentrating on a

good lock up of the blade in the water.

The rowing stroke is a push and not a pull.

We must aim to move the boat past the

oar, and not the oar past the boat.

Mahon shuddered when he saw a “lack

of finish to the stroke. The power is not

finished off with the inside arm. As a

consequence, the amount of boat run per

stroke is lessened.”6290

Sonia Waddell: “He used to like you to

draw up to the chest at the finish of the

stroke. On the erg, he used to say that if you

were rowing the perfect stroke, at the end of

it you could flick the handle up over your

head. If you hadn‟t timed it properly and

didn‟t have the right acceleration, you

wouldn‟t have the ability to do that.”6291

Modern Orthodox Technique

Harry often stated that he shared with

Thor Nilsen the overlapping-sequential

philosophy of Modern Orthodox Tech-

nique. He stressed “the sequence of legs,

body, shoulders, arms and hands during the

drive, and in reverse on the recovery [and]

the avoidance of shoulder lift and arm

snatch at the catch – the arms merely

connecting the oar to the energy source.”6292

During the early 1980s, the New

Zealand Amateur Rowing Association

6289


Ibid. 6291

S. Waddell, op cit. 6292

Keystrokes, op cit.

distributed Harry‟s description of the

pullthrough:

1. The FEET CONNECTION is made at

the same instant that the blade enters the

water. At the same time, the back is

connected to the blade. The body is held

firm, and the shoulders and arms are kept

relaxed. This enables the lower back and

lateral muscles to receive and hold the

pressure from the legs and water. The

rower is „suspended‟ (hanging) between

the oar handle and the seat with tension in

the calf muscles. The water pressure is

felt in the backs of the fingers.

2. The LEG DRIVE commences and

accelerates while the rower continues to

hang from the oar with pressure firmly on

the back and in the lateral muscles. The

BACK is actively involved as it

accelerates to bring speed to the boat,

stopping about 15° past vertical.

3. The ARM DRAW commences during the

maximum leg acceleration by continuing

to pull the handle, with the elbows/triceps

maintaining pressure in the fingers, until

the oar reaches the body.6293

Yet despite Mahon‟s own words, the

body mechanics of his athletes were most

often not Modern Orthodox overlapping-

sequential. The majority of his great

international champion crews, beginning

with the 1982 through 1984 New Zealand

crews, did not row this way at all. They

rowed with the concurrent legs and backs of

the Classical Technique, with perhaps some

resonance from Rusty Robertson‟s great

New Zealand crews of the early 1970s.6294

To confuse the matter further, Mahon

also wrote:

The power must be applied evenly from

all parts of the body, which is why a

relaxed rower is a fast rower.

6293

1980s NZARA handout posted in boathouses

around New Zealand. 6294

See Chapter 120.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1758

The stroke involves pushing with the legs,

keeping the shoulders and arms relaxed,

and at the same time opening hip angle

and shoulders to keep the distance

between body and oar handle [my

emphasis].6295

Mike Stanley, stroke of the New

Zealand Eight from 1982 to 1984: “I know

he was very impressed with the GDR

technique and conditioning and spent a lot

of time analyzing and trying to find out what

they were doing.

“I think he added a slightly more upright

catch position to their movement, which

allowed a more explosive6296

application of

power and more mobile movement, but

maintained the relaxed posture and

6295


again, the same word.

movement of the best GDR boats. That

resulted in crews which were probably not

the most powerful, but they were able to

hold their own at the start and then even-

split the middle 500s with enough left to lift

at the finish.”6297

The video frames on these pages show a

pullthrough with echoes also of the best

features of the Ratzeburg Style of the 1950s

and „60s without Karl Adam‟s extreme leg

compression. New Zealand crews of the

1980s shared with the Ratzeburgers

moderate body angle forward at the entry,

smooth body swing to minimal layback and

a ferryman‟s finish. As with their German

predecessors, the intent was to tick the boat

along rather than accelerate aggressively,

6297

Stanley, personal correspondence, 2008

Pieces of Eight

“Hanging off the handle.”

Barrie Mabbott, during selection in 1984

3-seat in 1983 World Champion Eight

3-seat in 1984 Olympic Bronze Medal Coxed-Four

+5°, +25° to -20°, 0-9, 0-9, 3-10, Classical Technique concurrent Schubschlag, late arm draw.


1759

Harry How, Getty Images

Sonia Waddell

“Use the arms as pieces of string.”

and then to allow time for the boat slow

down on the recovery.6298

All in all, it seems that Harry was not

afraid to draw from anyone and everyone if

the result was efficient boat moving.

It is interesting to note that Mike

Stanley, 1983 coxswain Andy Hay and

1983 3-seat Barrie Mabbot had all rowed

on a Maadi Cup Champion Westlake Boys

High School crew for Coach Eric

Craies.6299

Arm Draw

Harry repeatedly mentioned the need to

avoid “shoulder lift and arm snatch at the

catch,”6300

and there was no hint of either in

the technique of the athletes on these pages.

Harry counseled against “pulling the oar

with the arms,”6301

and described the arms as

“pieces of string”6302

or “merely connecting

the oar to the energy source,”6303

but this

seems to be contradicted both by the New

Zealand boats of the 1980s and by many

boats from later in Mahon‟s career.

Even though the shoulders usually

didn‟t rise and the elbows didn‟t break much

until mid-stroke, the arms, shoulders and

upper back muscles appear to have been

engaged concurrently with the legs and back

at the entry.

In the video frames on the following

page of Mike Stanley, stroke of the 1982,

„83 and „84 eights, the shoulders and lateral

muscles were clearly straining in Frames 2

and 3 even though the elbows were still fully

stretched as late as Frame 3.

6298

Recently, the 2007 New Zealand World

Champion coxless-four and 2009 coxless-pair

made use of a similar force application strategy. 6299



Ibid. 6302

R. Waddell, op cit. 6303

Keystrokes, op cit.

Harry passed away in 2001, and it turns

out that until now, not even Harry himself

ever attempted to describe once and for all

his technique, his “perfect stroke,” perhaps

because it represented such a classic

example of the whole being greater than the

sum of its parts. Words, even Harry‟s own

sometimes contradictory words, somehow

could not do it justice, and he tended to keep

his descriptions intentionally imprecise.

Harry‟s approach to rowing technique

defied specific labels. He seemed less

concerned with rowing ideology and more

with being in tune with one‟s inner self and

with the boat.

Mike Stanley: “Harry was not bound by

dogma. He was incredibly inventive,

challenging and always looking for the next

step up in the quest for an easier, more

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1760

efficient and relaxed way of moving a

boat.”6304

Rob Waddell: “With Harry, if there

were two different styles, he wouldn‟t

necessarily be fixed on either. You might

have style A and style B, but if the boats

looked good and they were moving the boat

well, he was positive about both. He

wouldn‟t say, „You should open your body

earlier,‟ or, „Press your legs more,‟ or

something like that.

“He obviously had the basics, which he

stuck to, but he wouldn‟t have a specific

technique that you should be doing exactly.

He would look at a boat and know if it was

moving well. He would look at the

movement of the rower and know if it was

doing well.

6304

Stanley, personal correspondence, 2008

“What I am trying to say is that he was a

really interesting coach.”6305

Metaphysics

Robin Williams: “Sharing the coaching

launch during one of the early water

sessions we did, I heard this stream of words

come out of the megaphone and found

myself nodding, smiling, and agreeing with

everything he said.

“I remember thinking that you usually

heard people coaching the mechanics of

rowing – more compression, less sit-back,

drive harder, less washy, etc., so it was a

surprise to hear someone talking quite

aesthetically about how the boat should feel

and what the athlete should be thinking.

6305

R. Waddell, op cit.

FISA 1984 Video

New Zealand Eight

Stroke Mike Stanley

1982, 1983 World Champion

+5°, +25° to -10°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10

Classical Technique concurrent Schubschlag,

delayed arm draw, ferryman‟s finish

Shoulder definition in Frame 2 indicates

the engagement of the shoulders and lats.


1761

“This was very refreshing to hear, and

the crew began to understand the sport

rather than just doing it.”6306

Angus McChesney, a colleague of

Harry‟s at Radley College, on the Thames

near Oxford: “Harry did have a very clear

idea of what he was looking for, but I don‟t

think I could easily put into words a

mechanical description of his perfect stroke.

Much of Harry‟s coaching worked at the

metaphysical level.”6307

Most of all, Mahon and his crews

caused observers to wax poetical:

6306

Williams, op cit. 6307

McChesney, personal correspondence, 2008

“ . . . a man whose whole creed of

rowing is focused on the natural rhythm and

movement of the body.”6308

“ . . . a fine technical crew of the type so

favoured by Harry Mahon, with a clean

catch, a fine long stroke and a boat which

flowed through between the strokes.”6309

“ . . . the movement, fluidity and style of

a Brazilian soccer team at its best, the

awesome speed of a Michael Johnson. Yet

they have a gentleness of touch like Tiger

Woods as he chips in from sixty feet.

“ . . . enough to send shivers down your

spine as his crews propel their fragile shells

6308

Cross, p. 51 6309

www.theboatrace.org

FISA 1984 Video

New Zealand Coxless-Four

1984 Olympic Champion

2 Shane O’Brien

6‟8” 203cm 212lb. 96cm

-5°, +25° to -10°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10 Classical Technique

Concurrent Schubschlag, ferryman‟s finish

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1762

across water in a way that is almost

magical.‟6310

The best thing we can do to try to

capture the essence of Harry Mahon‟s

technique is look at crews that rowed under

his guidance.

The 1984 New Zealand Team

Harry‟s New Zealand Men‟s Sweep

Team had entered three events in the two

years leading up to the Los Angeles Games,

and they had won them all, the eight in 1982

and the coxed-four and eight in 1983. All

fourteen 1983 individual World Champions

returned to try for their ultimate goal, 1984

Olympic Gold Medals.

The coxed-four in 1984 was made up

mostly of new faces. Only Barrie Mabbott

of the „83 Eight and Brett Hollister, who

had coxed the „83 four, were returnees.

The „84 coxless-four contained three

members of „83 World Champion coxed-

6310

Cross, p. 37

four, and the eight had all returning except

Mabbott. Greg Johnston from the „83 four

was the new member of the eight, the

priority boat for the team.

The 1984 Eight

Despite the Soviet-led boycott of the

Los Angeles Olympics, the field in the 1984

men‟s eight promised to be a strong one.

New Zealand, the two-time defending

World Champions, and Australia, the 1983

Bronze Medalists, were returning, and the

United States and Canada had both beaten

the 1982 and „83 Silver Medalist German

Democratic Republic earlier in the summer.

In fact, the Canadians had set a world record

in winning the Saturday final at the

International Rotsee Regatta at Lucerne.

New Zealand‟s qualifying heat included

both Lucerne-winner Canada along with

Great Britain, who had also shown good

speed in European racing earlier in the

season.

FISA 1984 Video

New Zealand Coxed-Four

1984 Olympic Bronze Medal

Stroke Ross Tong 6‟0” 184cm 196lb. 89kg, 3 Barrie Mabbott 6‟5” 195cm 198lb. 90kg,

2 Don Symon 6‟9” 205cm 216lb. 96kg, Bow Kevin Lawton 6‟1” 186cm 194lb. 88kg,

Coxswain Brett Hollister

Hollister had won Gold in the 1983 Coxed-Four. Mabbott had won Gold in the 1983 Eight.

The others were new to the National Team.


1763

Harry calmly spoke to the team before

the heat: “I think it‟s pretty straightforward

as to what we‟ve been doing, the same as

you‟ve been looking to do the whole time,

which is you control thinking to the 500,

which sets you up for that technique

[second] 500, alright? It‟s really most

important that you think technique all the

way through there, and you‟re going with

the crew. You‟re working hard, but you‟re

thinking technique. You‟re thinking leg

drive and lean [back].

“At 1,000 meters, then you‟ve got the

move that‟s on, and it‟s a decided break, and

it‟s to be decisive in which you‟re not going

to suddenly hammer the shit out of the thing,

but you‟re going to start to apply more

power and apply more effectively than even

what you were doing before, possibly.

“The whole thing started in „82 with the

move on the Russians, which means the last

part of the race is essentially taken care of.

If it‟s not, well, you just have to pull

something out. That‟s all.”6311

Team Manager Dudley Storey spoke

before the heat: “The New Zealand trait is

always to win, regardless. We have this

little saying that if you practice coming

second, you‟ll finish second all the time.

The idea is to go out there and win the heat,

so I‟m sure Harry will have been saying,

particularly with Canada being so fast . . .

and Great Britain, the best way to put the

first nail in their coffin is to beat them

today.”6312

And beat them they did, biding their

time for 1,000 meters and then forging into

the lead soon thereafter.

Bow-seat Nigel Atherfold, after the

heat: “You don‟t really want to be more than

two-thirds of a length behind, and I was

[thinking] it must be getting pretty close to

that, and I‟m just sitting, waiting for the

1,000.

6311

Pieces of Eight, A Quest for Gold, Television

New Zealand, Ian Taylor Producer/Director,

1984 6312

Pieces of Eight, op cit.

FISA 1984 Video

New Zealand Coxless-Four


Stroke Keith Trask 6‟3” 190cm 209lb. 95kg, 3 Conrad Robertson 6‟2” 189cm 201lb. 91kg,

2 Shane O’Brien 6‟8” 203cm 212lb. 96cm, Bow Les O’Connell 6‟4” 193cm 196lb. 89kg

Trask, Robertson and O‟Connell had won Gold in the 1983 Coxed-Four.

O‟Connell had also won Gold in the 1982 Eight.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1764

Pieces of Eight

Manager Dudley Storey and Coach Harry Mahon watch

the Olympic Eights Heat on television from the team tent.

“He called the move and

gaaaah, within about the first

five strokes we‟d already shot

straight back up to them.

“Bloody good!”6313

Stroke-seat Mike

Stanley: “How effortlessly

was that?! We were doing it

so economically, you were

almost cruising there. That‟s

how I felt. It was just so

easy!”6314

There were then several

days to wait until the final,

but things must have seemed

to be falling into place for the

New Zealand Eight.

Three-seat Roger White-

Parsons: “If we did lose, and

we‟d rowed well . . . losing,

then it is a better crew that‟s

beaten us, and that‟s fair

enough.

“But I think that if we

row to our best, well then the

other crew‟s going to have to

be going pretty fast to beat us.”6315

The Kiwi Coxless-Four was on the

podium receiving their Gold Medals as the

eight began its paddle to the start line. The

Coxed-Four had already won Bronze. Three

years of focus and hard work would come

down to less than six minutes of rowing.

Cross: “It was [at Ridley College] in St.

Catharines that Harry struck up a life-long

friendship with the great Canadian coach,

Neil Campbell, who was also a teacher6316

at the school. They were to be rival coaches

6313

Ibid. 6314

Ibid. 6315

Ibid. 6316

“Neil Campbell never taught classes at

Ridley College. He was a rowing coach there and

always coached the boy‟s heavyweight eights.” –

Al Morrow, personal correspondence, 2008

in the 1984 Olympics. On that occasion,

Campbell‟s crew got the better of Harry‟s.

The styles of their two Olympic eights were

completely contrasting, Campbell relying on

a much more aggressive, power-based style

of rowing, while Harry‟s eight – World

Champions for the previous two years – just

ghosted along effortlessly.

“The New Zealanders [had] cruised to

victory in the heat. On that form, I thought

the Gold was a formality.

“The trouble was that Harry probably

did, too. Overconfidence must have played

a part when, in the final, the Canadians blew

them away. The memory of that loss still

troubles Harry deeply.”6317

6317

Cross, p. 49


1765

Pieces of Eight

1984 New Zealand Eight

Waiting for the starter‟s command.

Was it their tried and true

“wait for the 1,000” strategy?

Canada didn‟t wait. They

went out lightning fast, and

the Americans and

Australians followed in their

wake. When the Kiwis finally

let it rip . . . it was too late.

Don Rowlands, long-time

NZ Team Manager during the

Eric Craies era: “I was out on

the TV boat with Conn

Findlay,6318

and twelve

strokes into the final of the

eight, he turned to me and

said, „No medal for New

Zealand today.‟

“Harry had taken David

Rodger, an outstanding 6-

man, and put him in the 2-

seat, thus in my view

destroyed the rhythm of

a once very fast crew.”6319

Seven-seat Herb Steven-son: “I‟m glad

that race is finished. Shows we‟re all

human, I suppose. We won two and lost

one, I suppose.

“Bugger of a one to lose.”6320

Stroke-seat Mike Stanley: “It was a

huge lost opportunity, but we have all had to

live with it.

“I‟m not really interested in getting

involved in a conversation as to why it

happened. To me, that is something

between the crew, and we probably

wouldn‟t all necessarily agree. Having any

one person‟s view reported wouldn‟t be

appropriate, in my mind.

“It happened . . . it will happen to others

again. Sport‟s like that – it‟s about risk, and

you have to live with the positives and

negatives.

6318

two-time U.S. Olympic Coxed-Pair Gold

Medalist. See Chapter 82. 6319

Rowlands, personal correspondence, 2009 6320

Pieces of Eight, op cit.

“I was privileged to be in a crew that at

their peak won two out of three events that

mattered. It was a wonderful time of my

life, and I have much to thank Harry and all

those who raced or got close to racing in

those crews, our Manager Dudley Storey

and Rowing NZ for the opportunity – it was

a blast!”6321

Cross: “The New Zealand Coxless-Four

won the Gold Medal in Los Angeles

Olympics. To me, they were the best crew

in the Games,6322

and though coached by

Brian Hawthorne, they rowed in the

inimitable Mahon Style.”6323

The final result for the New Zealand

Men in 1984 was Gold in the coxless-four,

6321

Stanley, personal correspondence, 2008 6322

this from a member of the 1984 Olympic

Champion British Coxed-Four, the boat that won

Steve Redgrave the first of his five Olympic

Gold Medals. See Chapter 130. 6323

Cross, p. 47

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1766

Bronze behind two extraordinary crews,

Great Britain6324

and the United States,6325

in

the coxed-four, and fourth in the eight, an

enviable overall outcome, but nobody

seemed to look past the eight.

The Times of London: “When the NZ

VIII failed to win a medal at the Olympics

in 1984, Mahon was made the scapegoat and

found his coaching responsibilities

drastically reduced.”6326

Cross: “Harry seemed to lose his way in

New Zealand after that result. In 1986,

6324



The Times of London, op cit.

Harry‟s four6327

returned to the medal

rostrum with a Silver, but he was clearly

looking for other challenges. He found it by

moving to Europe to become the Swiss

National Coach.”6328

Switzerland

In 1986, Harry became Switzerland‟s

first professional national coach.

6327

a crew made up exclusively of individuals

from Waikato Rowing Club, per Mike Stanley,

personal correspondence, 2008. 6328

Cross, p. 49

Pieces of Eight

1984 New Zealand Eight

In happier times, training on Lake Karapiro, New Zealand

Bow Nigel Atherfold 6‟2” 189cm 196lb. 89kg, 2 Dave Rodger 6‟4” 192cm 203lb. 92kg,

3 Roger White-Parsons 6‟5” 196cm 198lb. 90kg, 4 George Keys 6‟4” 193cm 209lb. 95kg,

5 Greg Johnston 6‟5” 195cm 201lb. 91kg, 6 Chris White 6‟3” 190cm 207lb. 94kg,


Coxswain Andrew Hay

All nine had been 1983 World Champions.


1767

Pieces of Eight

“He was like this bearded guy with a hat and

sunglasses” – Xeno Müller

FISA 1988 Video

1988 New Zealand Men’s Single

0lympic Bronze Medal, Seoul

Eric Verdonk 6‟2” 189 cm 187 lb. 85 kg

Quarrell: “Mahon‟s move to Switzer-

land was partly the result of his constant

search for the secret of rowing.”6329

Daniel Hornberger, Technical Director

of the Schweizerischer Ruderverband during

Harry‟s tenure: “Before Harry arrived,

Switzerland was basically sending club

crews to compete internationally, and since

1982 no crew had been able to achieve any

results anymore at the World

Championships or Olympics.

“Harry gave to all Swiss rowers a

common technique. That was a hellish job

and caused a lot of quarrels with all the club

coaches, but the Silver Medal in Seoul for

the Men‟s Double started a never-before

achieved number of Swiss rowing medals

for about ten years at World Championships

and Olympic Games.

“We had a Junior World Champion

Eight in 1993 and the year after a Bronze

medal in the same event. The Junior

Women‟s Double won Gold as well. We

won two Olympic Gold Medals in 1996 in

the men‟s single and the men‟s lightweight

6329

Quarrell, op cit.

double, and also a few medals at World

Championships in these years.

“Swiss rowing never ever had such a

successful time as between 1988 and 1996,

and all the results of Swiss rowers after he

left Switzerland are still to be seen in a

strong relationship with Harry.”6330

Mahon had two medalist boats at the

1988 Olympics, the Silver Medal Swiss

Men‟s Double of Beat Schwerzmann and

Üli Bodenmann and the New Zealand

Bronze Medal Men‟s Single Sculler, Eric

Verdonk.6331

That year he also began coaching Xeno

Müller.

Xeno: “Harry first saw me in 1988, the

year I was turning sixteen. I was in a little

rowing camp in Switzerland over Easter,

driven in from Fontainebleau in France

where I lived, and he spotted me on the lake

of Zug.6332

He was coaching these Swiss

club elites. It was funny because I was told

later on that he spotted me from afar, said,

6330

Hornberger, personal correspondence, 2008 6331

who had done his schoolboy rowing for Eric

Craies at Westlake Boys High School. 6332

30 km northeast of Lucerne.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1768

„Okay guys, good session,‟ and just drove

away in my direction.

“I was rowing along, and all of a sudden

this guy was sitting right off my stern, and

then he stopped me. He was like this

bearded guy with a hat and sunglasses. You

couldn‟t tell what he looked like. We had

heard that he was around, but that was the

first time we saw him, and for me it was,

you know, very flattering.

“I felt like a million bucks because there

I was, almost sixteen, didn‟t know how to

drive yet, and this iconic figure, Harry

Mahon, just saw something. So that was

memorable.

“He ended up coaching me from age 16

every summer in Sarnen, Switzerland6333

until 1992 when I was 21.”6334

Harry coached Xeno to a Bronze Medal

in the single at the 1990 Junior World

6333

on the Sarnersee, 25 km south of Lucerne. 6334

Müller, op cit.

Championships on Lac d‟Aiguebelette.

Müller went on to win the 1996 Olympic

Championship in the Men‟s Single under

Australian coach Marty Aitken.

Xeno: “If someone asks me where does

my rowing style come from, I say, well, I

had a New Zealand coach, and I had an

Australian coach, and we lived close to

Italy.

“Leg drive and keeping the shoulders

and the upper body relaxed, and relying on

the skeletal strength, not the muscular

strength, were the most important

things.”6335

Müller tended to contradict many of the

stated precepts of Mahon‟s perfect stroke.

Relatively short-limbed, Müller engaged

his shoulders and arms upon initiation of the

pullthrough – see the muscle definition in

6335

Müller, op cit.

FISA 1988 Video

1988 Swiss Men’s Double

0lympic Silver Medal, Seoul

Bow Beat Schwerzmann 6‟5” 195cm 214lb. 97kg, Stroke Üli Bodenmann 6‟3” 190cm 187lb. 85kg,

0°, +35° to -10°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10 Classical Technique

Concurrent Schubschlag, ferryman‟s finish


1769

Frames 2 on the following two pages – his

shoulders bunched a bit around his ears, and

his elbows bent quite early.

What Müller did to perfection was have

good posture (“Sit tall with a strong

back.”6336

) and transition seamlessly at the

end of the pullthrough to the recovery

(“Hands should flow out at the speed they

came in.”6337

) and transition again at the end

of the recovery to the pullthrough (“The

catch is a placing of, or anchoring of, the

blade in the water so you can push against it

with the legs.”6338

)

6336


Ibid. 6338

Ibid.

Xeno: “There were times when Harry

wouldn‟t watch me row. He would watch

my stern, and as I was rowing along, he

would tell me, „Catch . . . Catch . . . Catch . .

. „ He would be watching the deceleration

of my boat, comparing it to the speed of the

coaching launch, and when he saw the stern

slow down, that‟s when he wanted me to

pick up the boat. What ended up happening

is that he would tell me to catch when I was

halfway up the slide.

“Later in life I eventually figured out

what he was trying to tell me. What was not

happening with me was that I didn‟t get

enough hinging at the hip joint. I was a little

bit hunched, and I was pushing the body

forward first instead of letting the handle go

-5°, +25° to -25°, 0-8, 0-8, 0-10,

Classical Technique hybrid-concurrent Kernschlag

Back swing from entry, but legs were emphasized in Frames 2, 3 and 4.

Visible elbow bend began in Frame 3.

No acceleration after back stopped swinging.

FISA 1996 Video

Xeno Müller, Switzerland

6‟3” 190cm 220lb. 100kg

Men‟s Single

1996 Olympic Champion,

Lake Lanier

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1770

FISA 2000 Video

Xeno Müller, Switzerland

Men‟s Single

2000 Olympic Silver Medal, Penrith

+5°, +20° to -25°, 0-8, 0-8, 0-10, Modern Orthodox

By 2000, Müller compressed his legs more and moved

them more sequentially before back swing began.

author

Xeno Müller

Drawing the arms into an immobile back

produced no acceleration and led to a mild

Kernschlag bias in the force curve.

with the shoulder following and then the

body hinging at the hip.

“While all this is happening, the boat is

gliding . . . and only then do you start rolling

up the slide. Once you start rolling, then

there‟s a nice smooth glide of the boat.”6339

6339

Müller, op cit.

In 1996, Müller‟s body mechanics

displayed a very subtle Classical Technique

hybrid-concurrency. Legs barely dominated

early and were well integrated with the

unifying body swing. Arms were straining

early, but the last 10% of the pullthrough

was left to them alone. As can be seen on

this page, his force curve was smooth with a

subtle Kernschlag bias toward the front end.

Xeno tended to row slightly elevated

ratings, ticking the boat along much in the

manner of Mahon‟s 1980s New Zealand

sweep crews.

On Lake Lanier in 1996, Xeno

contented himself to row back in the pack as

first defending Olympic Champion Thomas


1771

Lange6340

and then 1993 World Champion

Derek Porter6341

led the way.

Xeno: “The goal was to not get tired in

the first 1,200 meters, and that was a really

hard battle for me to stay patient, especially

because you deal with pressure at the

Olympics.

“I was already higher than the 33-34 that

Lange and Porter and Iztok Cop were

doing, so it was even harder to be patient the

first 1,200 meters while noticing that the

others were leaving me behind. It was hard

to really trust that yes, it was possible to

start building in the last 700 meters, and to

potentially be a bowball ahead at 250 meters

to go. The goal in that last 800 meters or

700 meters was to start adding torque, so I

was going with a little less torque, and I was

ready to add more.”6342

Down two lengths in fourth place at the

1,000, Müller smoothly and almost

imperceptibly upped his rating from 35 to 36

and immediately began to move. He crossed

the 1,500 in third but only a half-length

down on Porter in the lead. He then raised

the rate one more beat to 37.

In five strokes he was in second. In ten

more he was in first.

Xeno: “I knew that Porter wasn‟t going

to take it up in the last 250 meters because in

the semi-final, if he could have done it, he

would have won against me . . . because it

was Porter! He has an ego. He would have

brought the fight to me if he could, but he

didn‟t.

“And you know, I trained to always row

the last 250 meters by instinct because every

third or fourth workout we would do, we

would say okay, let‟s just blow out one

minute, but only gradually build for that one

minute as long as it was efficiently moving

the boat. Every fifteen seconds we would

increase the boat speed, and by the time we

6340



Müller, op cit.

got to the racing season, we would have 44

strokes per minute by the end of that

minute.”6343

With 250 to go, Müller was at 38 and

three-quarters of a length ahead. Seven

strokes later it was open water!

He got an additional half length in the

drive to the line as Porter and Lange fought

desperately for Silver, the former ultimately

gaining it by inches. Porter especially

looked devastated on the awards podium.

Many have described Müller as an

explosive sprinter, but that is not exactly

accurate. Xeno Müller‟s last 500 in 1996

was indeed faster than the previous three,

but he had gradually and smoothly wound it

up from the 1,000 on in and looked

amazingly calm and fluid as he knifed

through the field, much like the 1982 New

Zealand eight, which had followed the

identical race plan.

On the 1996 FISA video, Daniel

Topolski described Müller as “a very

strong, powerful, contained sculler. Very,

very horizontal on the drive back, good

connection through the back through to the

legs.”6344

Certainly it was his fingers-to-toes

connection that carried him through.

Müller was only one of many outstand-

ing scullers that Harry Mahon coached

during the 1990s.

The Times of London: “Though [Harry

Mahon] found professional success in

Switzerland, the blunt speaking New

Zealander was never quite at home in the

country he termed „the land of the cuckoo

clock.‟”6345

Quarrell: “During his Swiss years he

began to hop continents, taking short-term

coaching jobs and spreading his unique

perspective to crews in America, Great

6343

Ibid. 6344

1996 FISA Video Commentary 6345


THE SPORT OF ROWING

1772

The author and Xeno in 2009

Britain, South Africa and Australia. It

didn‟t matter where: Mahon‟s only interest

was in getting the most speed possible out of

the boat, whoever was sitting in it.”6346

It is interesting to note that by the 2000

Olympics, Müller had become more of a

Modern Orthodox sequential rower, and he

looked not quite as fluid as he was being

beaten to Silver by another Mahon protégé,

New Zealand‟s Rob Waddell.

Müller: “I had a chest cold during the

final. I did not even think that I would

medal. I completely ran out of power at 500

meters to go.

“My stroke acceleration broke

down.”6347

“I was great for 1,500 meters,

and then I died. That was bad . . .

“The commentator said, „Waddell is

pulling away!‟ but I was going in the other

direction.”6348

Xeno Müller barely held on to the Silver

behind Waddell.

6346


Müller, personal correspondence, 2008 6348

Müller, personal conversation, 2008

Rob Waddell

Rob Waddell of New Zealand and

his wife, Sonia, also a New Zealand

international single sculler, were both

coached by Harry Mahon.

Xeno: “Rob Waddell is probably the

most modest huge champion that I have

ever met. Really good! Hands down! If

I‟m a fan of anyone, how he copes with

things, it‟s Rob because he‟s so open.”6349

Rob: “The first time I was actually

coached by Harry was in 1994, not long

after I left school. It was in the second

year, so I would have been nineteen. My

brother and I were working and living at

home on a farm which was about an hour

away from [Lake Karapiro], and we

would drive up, row in the evening, stay the

night with Harry, and then go out rowing

again in the morning. We did this every

second night, so we got to know Harry as

well personally as we did as a coach. He

often cooked meals and took meals with us.

He became quite a family friend.

“He first coached me in the coxless-pair,

then in „95 in the four, and again in „96

when I first got into the single. I think

Harry had an ability to sort of see a way

straight to the top for people and see natural

ability and natural athleticism.

“Harry was a mentor, an inspirational

kind of character who was one of the first

people who got me to believe that I could

achieve whatever I wanted to. He put the

thought in my mind and got me dreaming.

“The first time I hopped into the single,

I did really well in New Zealand.”6350

Rob gradually rose from failing to make

the World singles final in 19976351

to

winning the World Championship in 1998

6349


Waddell, op cit. 6351

See Chapter 149.


1773

and „99 and the Olympic Games in Sydney

in 2000.

Waddell‟s technique followed the

Mahon pattern: smooth, “endless-chain”

rhythm, Modern Orthodox hybrid-

concurrent legs and back with late arm draw

and moderate layback ending in a

ferryman‟s finish.

Rob: “I think Harry will always be

remembered in New Zealand as a

rhythmical, technical coach. I think he

contrasted with some of the coaches around

at the moment who are very workload-

oriented. He had an ability there to look at

things and to finish crews, which I think was

his real strength.”6352

After retiring from competitive rowing

in 2000 and working as a grinder in two

successful New Zealand America‟s Cup

sailing campaigns, Waddell returned to

rowing in time for the 2008 Beijing

6352

R. Waddell, personal conversation, 2008

FISA 2000 Video

Rob Waddell

New Zealand Men’s Single

6‟7” 200cm 227lb. 103kg

1998, 1999 World Champion


(shown at Penrith)

Coached by Harry Mahon

1994-1996

+5°, +25° to -20°, 0-8, 0-8, 4-10, ferryman‟s finish

Modern Orthodox hybrid-concurrent Kernschlag

Legs dominated early. Late arm draw.

As with Müller, acceleration stopped when back swing stopped.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1774

Olympics. He and his partner, Nathan

Cohen, placed fourth in the men‟s double.

On to Great Britain

By the 1990s, Harry Mahon had become

a true citizen of the world.

Quarrell: “For the last few years of

Mahon‟s life, the British rowing community

adopted him. In 1993, he was brought in by

the Cambridge University coaches to help

reverse a losing streak of sixteen defeats in

seventeen years.6353

The Mahon magic,

coupled with the fierce determination of the

entire squad, turned Cambridge into winners

that year, and created a system which

maintained their success throughout the

„90s.

6353

under coach Dan Topolski. See Chapter 144.

“England increasingly became Mahon‟s

base, and he coached crews in the British

squad, at Cambridge and at Radley in

Oxfordshire, between trips abroad.”6354

The Times of London: “But it was at

Cambridge University where Mahon had

been coach since 1992, that he exerted his

most sustained influence. He joined a

demoralized Club and effected what seemed

to be an instantaneous transformation.

“In the 1993 Boat Race, Cambridge

rapidly established a two-length lead over

Oxford, beginning a winning streak that has

since [through 2001] been broken only once.

The 1994 Cambridge crew – which beat a

Leander Club VIII that included Matthew

Pinsent and Stephen Redgrave6355

– was

6354


See Chapter 136.

FISA 1999 Video

Rob Waddell, New Zealand

1999 World Singles Champion

+5°, +25° to -30°, 0-8, 0-9, 5-10, ferryman‟s finish

Modern Orthodox hybrid-concurrent Kernschlag, late arm draw

“Thanks for the big influence you had on us. Your unique and

uncomplicated way of thinking removed many of the barriers in our minds,

not just for rowing but also for life.”

- Rob and Sonia Waddell


1775

regarded by Mahon as the finest boat he has

ever coached.

“He took particular pleasure in seeing

two of his recent Cambridge protégés,

Kieran West and Graham Smith go on to

international success winning Gold Medals

at the 2000 Olympics and World

Championships respectively.”6356

The Guardian: “Mahon was a

journeyman coach par excellence, showing

up for a weekend with Cambridge and

Robin Williams, then a few days at

Hammersmith with Martin McElroy and

his Olympic oarsmen, interspersed with

regular bouts at Radley College with another

Cambridge colleague, Donald Legget.

“He coached Britain‟s scullers from

1997 to 1999, running a small group from

the Lensbury Club, Teddington, which

included Greg Searle.”6357

Greg Searle

The Searle brothers had already won the

1992 Olympic Coxed-Pair title in inimitable

fashion. Martin Cross was watching:

“At first, the boats were just distant dots,

but as they passed the 1,000 metres mark I

could just begin to make out the crews. Five

seconds ahead and creaming the rest of the

field were the imperious Abbagnale

brothers.6358

The Italians were flying toward

their third Olympic Gold Medal with what

seemed like an ocean of clear blue water

between them and the rest of the field. That

included Jon Searle, rowing with his

younger brother, Greg. The split times

showed they were 4.8 seconds behind at the

halfway point.

“Then I remembered the words of the

Searles‟ cox, Garry Herbert. When we

had spoken about his race the previous

6356


The Guardian, op cit. 6358

See Chapter 145.

evening, he‟d said, „Mart, I know we can

give them five seconds at the 1,000 metres

and still beat them.‟

“With 500 left, though, what Garry had

promised hadn‟t happened. Even though

they were now challenging for Silver, I was

sure they‟d left it far too late. With just 100

metres to go, the Abbagnales must have

begun to smell the scent of the bouquets that

were awarded to the champions.

“Then it happens. With centimetres left,

the killer touch. The Searles‟ last few

desperate strokes snatched the Gold Medal

away.”6359

“The year after Barcelona they again

won. It was only FISA‟s decision to abolish

their event that stopped them adding another

Gold in the Atlanta Games.”6360

Turning to a coxless-four for their return

to Olympic competition, in 1996 the Searle

brothers came in third to the Oarsome

Foursome6361

and a very fast French crew.

Cross: “To both Searles, the Bronze

„seemed like nothing.‟”6362

After Atlanta, Greg turned to the single

and to Harry Mahon.

Cross: “Greg Searle got a chance to

sample the Mahon magic when Harry began

to coach him in 1997. That year, Searle

became the first British single sculler for

almost forty years to medal at a World

Championships.”6363

“I went out with him in the launch to

hear him coaching Greg Searle. He never

stopped talking. I listened enthralled to his

dialogue. For me, it was like discovering

Mozart for the first time. Not only could I

see the effect that his coaching was having

on Greg, it was also the way I was starting

6359

Cross, pp. 12-3 6360

Ibid, p. 184 6361


Cross, p. 184 6363

Ibid, p. 50

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1776

FISA 1992 Video

1992 Olympic Men’s Coxed-Pairs Final Lago de Bañolas

500 to go, 250 to go, 110 to go, 20 to go, Finish

1 GBR 6:49.83, 2 ITA 6:50.98, 3 ROM 6:51.58, 4 GER 6:56.98, 5 CUB 6:58.26, 6 FRA 7:03.01

The Searles made up one length on the Abbagnales in less than 90 meters!


1777

Cas Rekers, Rowperfect

Greg Searle

Smooth first half from coordinated legs

and back. Flat spot may be due to late arm

break. The boat stopped accelerating

during the ferryman‟s finish.

FISA 1998 Video

Greg Searle, Great Britain

1992 Olympic Champion, Coxed-Pair

1993 World Champion, Coxed-Pair

1997 World Bronze Medal, 1998 Fifth, Men‟s Single

6‟5” 196cm 220lb. 100kg

0°, +25° to -25°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10

Classical Technique hybrid-concurrent

Very elegant Schubschlag, hint of ferryman‟s finish

to look at the sport at that time in my

life.”6364

As the video frames on this page

indicate, Searle shared a number of technical

features with Xeno Müller: hybrid-

6364

Ibid, pp. 47-8

concurrent legs and back, moderate body

swing with shoulders and arms engaged

early. Again, the impression was of

connection and fluid motion.

Greg Searle followed Harry around the

world.

Mark Shuttleworth: “In the course of

the southern summer of 1997-1998, Harry

coached Greg Searle in South Africa. Greg

was there to take advantage of the South

African Summer and Harry‟s presence.

“Harry had taken on the South Africans

as a visiting consultant coach, simply

because he was asked. I was fortunate to

accompany him a few times while helping

the SA squad, and following Greg who was

just beginning his single sculling campaign.

Harry spoke the same way and with the

same attention to detail with Greg as with

any of the SA squad, or other rowers who

were fortunate to be around for him to take a

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1778

look at. He imbued a quiet certainty rather

than confidence.”6365

Searle: “Harry also had the ability to

work with individuals differently. He knew

that I was different from others he‟d worked

with, like Xeno. Therefore, his model for

what good should look like for me was

different and very personal and real for

me.”6366

Cross: “Rather than getting him to slam

his legs down as quickly as he could in a

[sweep] boat, Harry emphasized that Greg

needed to move more sympathetically with

the pace of the boat. It was all about taking

more time to feel connected and learning

how to use his back as a lever, pulling with

his lateral muscles rather than wrenching

with his shoulders and arms.”6367

Searle‟s force curve typified the Mahon

approach, a Schubschlag parabola with

smooth transitions and no rough spots. The

curve shown was measured on a Rowperfect

rowing simulator by Cas Rekers at the

regatta site of the 1997 World

Championship.

In his first year of serious sculling, Greg

Searle, already the world record holder on

the Concept2 ergometer, “was moving

beautifully, completely at one with the boat,

unhurried, connected and fast.”6368

Searle: “Harry made everything

effortless and enjoyable, and when I rowed

like that, it was pretty special. I keep a diary

of everything he said to me. I still try

[April, 2001], and I hope I am succeeding,

to row in a way that he would teach.”6369

Greg won Bronze on Lac d‟Aiguebelette

in 1997 and set his sights on the 2000

Olympics.

The Guardian: “Greg Searle, the 1992

Olympic coxed-pairs Gold Medallist,

6365



Cross, p. 185 6368

Ibid, p. 187 6369

Qtd. by Stevens, op cit.

despite eventually failing to become

Britain‟s single sculler in Sydney, said that

Mahon revolutionised his technique and

mental approach: „He inspired me whenever

he coached me, and the way he dealt with

his illness inspires me still.‟”6370

Cancer

Quarrell: “In 1997, Mahon was given a

diagnosis of terminal liver cancer, and

months to live. Using a combination of

willpower, exercise, chemotherapy and

alternative medicine, he fought the

encroaching tumour, and for a while halted

its progress.”6371

The Guardian: “In 1997, Henley

Regatta timed Searle‟s races to fit in with

Harry‟s chemotherapy programme.”6372

Searle: “When it came to his fight with

cancer, he was incredibly brave. He would

take the treatment without wanting to miss a

training session with me. He also seemed

prepared to face up to what was happening

but be prepared to fight like hell.

“I have videos of me sculling with Harry

talking. I didn‟t realize it at the time when

we watched them together, but I think he

was actually talking to the camera and not to

me to ensure that his words would not be

lost. He knew he wouldn‟t be here forever.

“I can now watch those videos and still

capture what he wanted me to do with my

technique.”6373

Quarrell: “In 1999, [Harry] decided to

run the London Marathon to raise money for

the cancer-care units which had helped him,

and both Mahon and his helpers were

astonished by the response from around the

world, as donations poured in.”6374

6370




G. Searle, op. cit. 6374

Quarrell, op cit.


1779

Grant Craies

Harry Mahon

coaching Simon Dennis, 3-seat

Great Britain 2000 Olympic Champion Men‟s Eight

The Times of London:

“The recent verging of

reverence in which he was

held by oarsmen was only

enhanced by the way in

which he dealt with the

cancer.

“Undaunted and lacking

in self pity, he kept up a

punishing coaching schedule

with the Great Britain squad,

with Cambridge University

and latterly with the Radley

College crew. Given only

months to live at the

beginning of 1999, Mahon‟s

strength of will proved

indomitable.”6375

The 2000 Eight

Cross: “[In 1999, Mahon

spent] the summer giving his expertise to the

British eight. Their coach, Martin

McElroy, was a Mahon devotee and jumped

at the chance to have the great man along to

most sessions.

Cross: “The first time I saw the British

eight training on the course [at the 1999

World Championships in St. Catharines], it

took my breath away. Their stroke looked

so long and connected, the rhythm so

effortless. They were moving so quickly

that they were traveling far more between

strokes than I could remember.

“Then the magic of that Kiwi eight in

1982 flashed into my mind, and I knew that

the Mahon magic had been at work again.

“Their brilliant final row, where they

won a [1999] Silver Medal, was testament to

the inspiration of a great teacher.”6376

6375


Cross, p. 54

Technique

McElroy: “Overall, I‟d say our tech-

nique is based on simplicity. A stroke has to

have reasonable effective length, the power

must come on in a sustainable fashion, and

nothing should be done to slow the boat

down.

“Our sport is about taking both athlete

and boat down the track in the best possible

time. The athlete has a finite amount of

energy to offer during the race. An effective

technique tries to maximise the boat speed

that can be generated over this period.

“Without trying to categorise our

technique relative to others, I‟d say we

attempt to row in a natural relaxed fashion.

We focus a lot on eliminating extras – if it

offers nothing to the speed of the boat, then

why do it?

“The momentum of the athletes in the

crew is crucial. The athletes moving back

and forth along the slide can be basis of a

rhythm. You can either bang off the foot-

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1780

stretcher and pull yourself back up the slide

for the next stroke, or you can spring off the

stretcher, just as a good basketball player

would to gain maximum height, and then

allow the forward moving boat to bring your

feet to you before springing again.”6377

6377

Interview with Martin McElroy,

www.irow.com

FISA 2000 Video

2000 Great Britain Men’s Eight

Olympic Champion, Penrith

2 Ben Hunt-Davis

0°, +30° to -10°, 0-8, 0-8, 0-10

Classical Technique, concurrent Schubschlag,

ferryman‟s finish, late arm draw

“You can spring off the stretcher, just as a good

basketball player would to gain maximum height.”

- Martin McElroy


1781


Cas Rekers being coached by

Harry Mahon, 1997


2001 British Template

Schubschlag parabola

Mahon Force Curve Template

During the 1990s, Harry Mahon

associated himself with Rowperfect rowing

simulators and its founder, Cas Rekers.

Tony Brook, a longtime friend of both,

reminisced with Cas: “The Rowperfect is an

important part of the Harry story, as in the

latter years of his life he „discovered‟ it one

day, excitedly phoned me and said, ‟I have

just been on a new rowing machine, and you

know what? It feels just like a boat – you

have got to try it!‟

“And so the wonderful relationship

began between us all. I thought it amazing

that Harry would put his athletes onto the

„Rowperfect‟ just before they went out to

race at World Championship regattas. He

did this with Greg Searle in 1997 and the

GB Olympic Eight in Sydney.

“Do you remember the day Harry

coached the Kiwi girl on the Rowperfect in

the attic of our house? That was one of the

best examples of Harry in action that I ever

saw, and you witnessed it at first hand, Cas!

“The sound of the accelerating flywheel

becoming more consistent and defined as the

athlete began to relax, work correctly and

apply the master‟s words.

“I can still hear it now . . .”

Rekers: “Harry‟s coaching of me

personally was limited to about fifteen

minutes when he asked me, being the person

most familiar with the dynamics of the

Rowperfect machine and all its ins and

outs, to help him to produce some template

curves that he could use. The coaching

stopped as soon as I had produced the shape

of curve he wanted.”6378

As it had been with Greg Searle, that

shape was a parabola, first seen in 1900 at

Cornell University6379

and repeatedly seen in

champion crews in the century that

followed. Most notably, the parabola was

also the ideal curve of the German

Democratic Republic.6380

Redemption in 2000

Early in his career, Harry had been

severely wounded by his own failure to lead

his two-time World Champion New Zealand

Eight to the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal. He

must have known that the 2000 Olympics

6378

Rekers, personal correspondence, 2008 6379


See Chapter 119.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1782

would be his very last chance to complete

the journey he had first attempted sixteen

years earlier.

The Times of London: “During the

[2000] Olympics, Mahon was already in the

advanced stages of cancer, and his defiance

of his condition was an inspiration to the

British crew.”6381

Cross: “[In 2000,] wins in Vienna and

Lucerne were offset by defeats in Munich

and Henley. But by Sydney the crew was

clearly moving better than it ever had done.

“There was an effortless ease about the

way they raced. On the pick-up, the blades

6381


disappeared below the surface of the water

more quickly and smoothly than any of their

rivals.

“A brief hiccup during their opening

heat, which saw them lose to Australia, was

merely seen by Harry as an opportunity to

remind them how things should be done in

the next race.

“Throughout the week, Harry continued

to work ceaselessly on their technique, not

just on the water but also by having each

man row perfect strokes on his beloved

Rowperfect rowing simulator before they

went out to race or train.

“Harry watched the final from the

coaches‟ van which drove alongside the

FISA 2000 Video

2000 Great Britain Eight

Olympic Champion, Penrith

Coxswain Rowley Douglas,

Stroke Steve Trapmore 6‟4” 192cm 198lb. 90kg, 7 Fred Scarlett 6‟5” 196cm 216lb. 98kg,

6 Kieren West 6‟8” 204cm 220lb. 100kg, 5 Luka Grubor 6‟6” 198cm 225lb. 102kg,

4 Louis Attrill 6‟4” 193cm 209lb. 95kg, 3 Simon Dennis 6‟7” 200cm 209lb. 95kg,

2 Ben Hunt-Davis 6‟6” 198cm 209lb. 95kg, Bow Andrew Lindsay 6‟1” 185cm 205lb. 93kg


1783

Pieces of Eight

Harry Mahon in 1984

race. It is difficult to extract from him

exactly how he felt during those five

minutes or so, when the British eight moved

effortlessly out into the lead which they

were never to relinquish: joy at the result,

satisfaction at the way in which it was won,

or maybe relief that he had laid to rest his

demons of 1984, when his Kiwi crew failed

to medal. All Harry will admit to was

feeling pretty pleased for the boys and

Martin [McElroy] that he had helped them

achieve something that had been their goal

for a long while.”6382

The Times of London: “Just before the

starting gun sounded for the Olympic final,

one of the crew called out „Remember,

we‟re doing this for Harry‟. The call – and

6382

Cross, pp. 54-5

Mahon‟s meticulous

preparation of the crew – had

the necessary effect.”6383

Quarrell: “As the British

eight arranged itself on the

start of the Olympic final, the

cox, Rowley Douglas, got the

crew to check all their

equipment as usual, and then

said, „If I had eight men in

front of me with the spirit of

Harry Mahon, we would win

this race by a mile.‟

“The crew did win it, by a

length, which is tantamount to

a mile at this level.”6384

The Times of London:

“The VIII surged ahead of the

field, held the lead throughout

the race, and went on to win

the first British Gold Medal in

the event since 1912.

“[Harry Mahon] was at

last able to realise his life-

long ambition of coaching the

Gold Medal-winning Olympic VIII.”6385

R.I.P.

When Harry finally succumbed to his

cancer in May of 2001 at the age of 59, a

unique voice was lost.

The Times of London: “Rowing was his

life, and he was coaching at Radley to

within days of his death.”6386

Robin Williams: “I remember thinking

at the time when he was getting really ill,

„Why is he still coaching?‟

“I think most of us would think of

ourselves in that situation in our last few

months, and probably not keep getting up at

the crack of dawn, sitting in a cold motor

6383




Ibid.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

1784

boat watching someone else starting off in

rowing, tediously making the same mistakes

that generations before have made.

“But we are not Harry.”6387

Mark Shuttleworth: “It is funny how

we remember in our minds those with big

6387

Williams, personal correspondence, 2008

egos, but in our hearts we treasure those

more selfless people with mature egos.”6388

In 2007, the rowing approach at

Cambridge was still often referred to as

“Mahon” style.6389

6388


de Rond, p. 168

THE SPORT OF ROWING

To the readers of

www.row2k.com

Many thanks to everyone who has al-

ready reserved a copy of the limited collec-

tor’s edition of The Sport of Rowing, Two

Centuries of Competition. The response

has been overwhelming. Each person who

pre-purchases a collector copy prior to pub-

lication will be listed as a subscriber in both

the regular and collector editions.

Those who still wish to reserve a low

number or a special number for their collec-

tor edition should hurry and email me direct-

ly at [email protected].

The current posting is another example

scope of my book. For most of the first half

of the 20th Century, the rowers of the Soviet

Union were unknown and unseen in the

beyond their borders. Their subsequent in-

fluence on the Eastern Bloc states is well

known, but their impact of Western rowing

is little appreciated today.

This chapter is another great example of

how fortunate I have been to have individu-

als more knowledgeable than I volunteer to

collaborate with me to write their chapter. I

was in Moscow in 1979, but the history of

rowing in Russia and the surrounding repub-

lics was entirely unknown to me.

The following .pdf is in the format in-

tended for the final printed book. It is from

the second of four volumes.

I need you!

If you find any typos in this chapter, or

if you have any questions, comments, sug-

gestions, corrections, agreements, disagree-

ments, additional sources or illustrations, if

you would like to add your own perspective,

etc., please email me at the address below.

Your input represents an essential contribu-

tion to what has always been intended to be

a joint project of the rowing community, so

please contribute. If you and I end up final-

ly disagreeing on some relevant point or

other, I will be thrilled to present both alter-

natives so the readers can decide for them-

selves.

Incidentally, many thanks to all who

continue to write and thank me and to make

corrections and add comments, photos,

anecdotes, etc. to the recent postings on the

1984 U.S. men’s scullers, on Ted Nash, and

on women’s rowing during the 1970s, ‘80s,

‘90s and ‘00s and on Harry Mahon. Drafts

with all the updates are gradually being

posted for you on row2k.

You can always email me anytime at:

[email protected].

Many thanks.


TTThhheee SSSpppooorrrttt ooofff

RRRooowwwiiinnnggg bbbyyy

PPPeeettteeerrr MMMaaallllllooorrryyy

VVVooollluuummmeee IIIIII

IIInnnttteeerrrnnnaaatttiiiooonnnaaallliiisssmmm

dddrrraaafffttt mmmaaannnuuussscccrrriiipppttt FFFeeebbbrrruuuaaarrryyy 222000111111

INTERNATIONAL ROWING TURNS PROFESSIONAL

823

Ochkalenko

Rowing Rules

&

Gigs’ Management.

N. Wilkins.

St.-Petersburg.

The Navy Ministry Printing House.

1861.

79. The Soviet Union

The Soviet System – The Moscow Style – Igor Grinko

Early History

In the early 1950s when the athletes of

the Soviet Union emerged from behind the

Iron Curtain as an instant power in world

rowing, their program and their history had

been largely unknown to the West.

Evgeni Samsonov, 5-seat in the 1952

Olympic Silver Medal Krylya Sovetov2916

Moscow Eight and later Soviet National

Coach from 1956 to 19772917

: “In 1960, we

celebrated one hundred years of rowing in

Russia. Actually Peter the Great2918

brought

rowing to our country, but as a sport it has

existed since 1860.”2919

Ukrainian coach and rowing historian

Gennadii Ochkalenko: “The first racing

boats and rules were brought to Russia in the

19th Century by the foreign businessmen,

engineers and students. The first English-

style rowing club was built in St. Petersburg

in 1860.

“The first Russian rowing manual was

published in St. Petersburg in 1861 by

Nicholas Wilkins. Called Rowing Rules

and Gigs’ Management, it was based on the

English book, The Principles of Rowing

2916

“Soviet Wings,” the air industry and

university sports club in Moscow, per

Ochkalenko, personal correspondence, 2011 2917

Ochkalenko, personal correspondence, 2011 2918

Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov, Czar Peter I of

Russia, reigned from 1682 to 1725. 2919

Qtd. by Lanouette, Volga, pp. 125-6. While

details remain sketchy, a bit more is known of

the origins of rowing in Russia, See Dodd, World

Rowing, pp. 263-9

and Steering by Egan and Shadwell.2920

Wilkins acquainted Russian sportsmen with

2920

See Chapter 6.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

824

Ochkalenko

Manual

of

Rowing and Sailing

with Application

to

Swimming.

With pictures and drawings.

Vassiliy Gud has made

Authorized by the King‟s Secretary

Moscow River Yacht-Club.

Moscow – 1889

the racing principles and rules and translated

basic rowing terminology into Russian, very

successfully by the way.

“The second Russian rowing manual

was published in 1889 by the Moscow River

Yacht-Club. Called Manual of Rowing

and Sailing with Application to

Swimming, this textbook contained in many

respects English rowing information,

including „rules of the amateur.‟ It included

construction of boats, a learn-to-row course,

racing programs, rules of competition, sports

diet and rowing uniforms.

“When I showed this textbook to a

USSR sports government official in 1970s,

he swore and said, „Before 1917 Revolution,

yacht-club could issue textbooks, and today

Soviet Sports Committee and Federation

cannot even print racing rules!‟

“First Russian Rowing Championship

was carried out in 1892 in Moscow. Well-

known Russian cognac and vodka

industrialist Sergey Shustov was the single

sculls winner (1,140m in 6:30).

“Russia‟s first racing eight-oared shell

arrived to St. Petersburg in 1891. (It was

saved in Krasnoye Znamya boathouse up to

1960s.) Russia‟s first eights race was

carried out in St. Petersburg only in 1909.

Mikhail Kusik

Ochkalenko: “Mikhail Kusik [154lb.

70kg] of St. Petersburg became Holland

Beker Champion2921

in 1909 and 1910 and

Russian Singles Champion in 1910, 1911

and 1913. In 1912 he was eliminated by

three lengths in the first round of the

Diamond Sculls at Henley by Polydor

Veirman of Société Royale de Sport

Nautique de Gand2922

in Belgium.”2923

2921


Ibid. 2923

Ochkalenko, op. cit.

Kusik then became the first Russian

rower to medal in the Olympics. In

Stockholm in 1912 after the Henley Regatta,

he disposed of the Austrian and Hungarian

scullers in the first two rounds of single-

elimination racing before again running into

Polydor Veirman of Belgium in the semi-

finals. The race was closer that it had been at

Henley, but Veirman pulled away in the last


825

Holland Beker Regatta

Mikhail Kusik

Demyanov, All About Rowing

Anatoliy Pereselentsev

500 to win by open water. In the other

semi-final, William Kinnear of Great Britain

beat Everard Butler of Canada. Kinnear

won the final for Gold and Silver over

Veirman, and there being no race for third,

both Kusik and Butler were awarded Bronze

Medals.

The Official Report of the Olympic

Games of Stockholm 1912: “The Russian

has a beautiful style and great energy”2924

Anatoliy Pereselentsev

Ochkalenko: “Moscow sculler

Anatoliy Pereselentsev was one of the most

influential Russian athletes before Soviet

era. Pereselentsev was the Russian Singles

Champion in 1908, 1909 and 1914.

“The tall, strong sportsman studied in

Paris, Heidelberg and Oxford, and he sculled

in French, German and English clubs. He

2924

1912 Official Olympic Report, p. 675

competed against Jack Beresford, Sr.2925

of

Great Britain, 1904 Holland Beker winner,

William Kinnear of Great Britain, 1910

and 1911 Diamond Sculls winner and 1912

Olympic Champion, Giuseppe

Sinigaglia2926

of Italy, 1911 European

Champion, Friedrich Graf of Germany,

1913 European Champion, Gaston

Delaplane of France, four-time European

Champion, and even had sparring races with

famous professional Ernest Barry.2927

Pereselentsev was nicknamed „the

Champions‟ death.‟

“In 1913, Pereselentsev won Paris and

France Championships. He was selected to

the French National Team in a double with

F. Barrelet, and together they won the 1913

European Championship.

2925

See Chapter 23 2926


See Chapter 47.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

826

Author

“He returned triumphally to Russia with

two single shells and a double. These boats

had a very long and famous history,

especially one single named Marti.

Alexandr Dolgushin, the best Soviet sculler

of the „30s, used this boat and recorded a

7:15 time result. And in „40s and „50s,

USSR Champion Igor Demyanov also

raced in this boat. He recorded 7:07. The

boat lasted until it broke in the 1960s

under Anatoliy Sass, later the

1968 Olympic Doubles

Champion. The double

lasted long enough to be

used in the 1950s by

Emchuk and

Zhilin,2928

who will

be discussed later in

this chapter.

“After 1917,

Pereselentsev passed

to coaching. He was

Moscow Sports

Academy teacher and

coach. He taught „natural

style,‟ close to Fairbairn.

His teams competed

successfully, but in „30s he was

denounced by some of his pupils

and placed in a concentration camp by KGB.

He was released after the Patriotic War2929

but died unemployed and homeless.”2930

The Soviet Era

Samsonov in 1962: “Rowing has long

been popular in my country, though in

international competition we are fairly new.

“In USSR, there are nearly twenty

thousand oarsmen, from 14 years up. It is

encouraged among the young as a school

sport; for this we have special children‟s

2928

Demyanov, All About Rowing, per

Ochkalenko 2929

World War II 2930

Ochkalenko, op. cit.

boats. Our senior competition begins at

18.”2931

People’s Rowing

Ochkalenko: “When Soviet Russia tried

to develop rowing for the masses in „20s and

„30s, that effort was limited by boat

shortage. Clubs could not buy foreign boats,

and domestic boats were unavailable.

Some clubs tried to build

primitive boats by hand, but

this did not solve problem.

“So Soviet

government decided in

„30s to manufacture

simple, cheap boats.

Many factories began

to make single and

double wooden boats

of a standard design,

and by the mid-„30s

many physical culture

organizations had

sufficient quantity of rowing

craft.

“As opposed to classical sports

rowing, this version of sport was

named people’s rowing, in Russian,

Народная гребля, literally „national

people rowing.‟

“There were two standard designs:

coxless-single and coxed-double boats,

wooden, light to carry and to transport,

clinker construction, rudder attached to the

stern with cord for coxing, simple bench seat

and foot stretcher, metal rotating gates.

Outriggers and sliding seats were strictly

forbidden by competition rules. The simple

wooden sculls with leather buttons and

collars were shorter and heavier than

classical sculls, though from „60s to „80s,

serious sportsmen used cut-down classical

sculling blades in competition.

2931

Qtd. by Lanouette, Volga, pp. 125-6


827

Moscow Olympic Album, 1976

People’s Doubles in Moscow

“People‟s rowing was included in school

and university physical education programs.

It was introduced to army, police and factory

workers and was included as part of the

obligatory Soviet GTO2932

physical testing

system. This system was instituted by

government in 1934 for physical training of

the population.

“These boats were available in

boathouses, parks, beaches, etc. Any citizen

could rent for a small payment such boat and

have recreational rowing.

“Also, many competitions were held for

these boats all over the country from „30s to

„80s, from local level at clubs, universities,

schools, factories, army divisions up to

USSR National Championship. Racing

rules were similar to classical rowing, and

races were run at various distances

depending on the course.

“In addition, these boats were for

beginners‟ initial sculling training in any

boat club. I began in such a boat. The same

for rowing, kayaking and canoeing novices.

And they were used as off-season fitness

training for competitive kayakers, canoeists,

swimmers, wrestlers, cross country skiers,

skaters, different athletics, etc.

“As a preparatory stage to top level of

classical rowing, Olympic Champion

Alexandr Berkutov2933

was USSR

Champion in this boat. Also first Soviet

World Canoeing Champion Gennadii

Bukharin. In 1951, first USSR Canoeing

Team squad to compete in Olympics was

entirely selected for Helsinki from the best

Soviet people‟s rowing athletes.

“Also we used such boats for USSR

Blind Rowing Program in Ukraine (coxed-

doubles only).2934

2932

GTO was Russian abbreviation for: „Ready

To Work And Defend!‟ 2933

1956 Olympic Doubles Champion 2934 “My own idea of a rowing program for the

blind in 1962 and 1963 came from learning

about this Soviet project. We used four-with

shells at Lake Washington Rowing Club with

“Thanks to people‟s rowing, from 1930s

to 1950s, rowing became popular and

fashionable even with scientists, writers,

actors and government officials.

sighted coxswains in Seattle and in Vancouver,

and then it moved down to Oakland.” – Ted

Nash, personal conversation, 2011

THE SPORT OF ROWING

828

“Unfortunately, this rowing has lost its

popularity today. The wooden boats have

become outdated, although there were

attempts to make them in plastic. In Kiev,

one company led by former USSR national

coach continues to make such boats.

“Soviet Championships were first held

for some sports in 1918. During the 1920s,

majority of rowing competitions were

matches between Moscow and Leningrad

rowers. The first USSR Rowing

Championship was carried out in 1923, but

unfortunately the results have not been

preserved.

“The next competition, the first

Спартакиада,2935

was held in 1928 in

Moscow. Hundreds of sportsmen

2935

“Spartakiad”

participated, but the competition program

included all boating races, people‟s boats

and kayaks as well. Leningrad and Moscow

rowers participated and won there mainly.

The Leningrad city team was the strongest.

“During 1930s, rowing competitions

were held more regularly, though not

annually. As well as other sports, rowing

stayed in isolation. Soviet rowers did not

participate in any international events up to

1950.

“At this time, Moscow athletes became

the leaders, both by their results and because

of their style. While the Muscovites

mastered a progressive „natural‟ style

similar to Fairbairn,2936

Leningrad‟s rowers

adhered to out-of-date orthodox principles.

2936

See Chapter 14ff.

1980 Official Olympic Report

Crylatskoye Rowing Complex, Moscow

Site of the 1973 World Championships and 1980 Olympics

1980 Olympic Indoor Velodrome is visible beyond grandstands on right.

The 1980 Olympic Road Cycling Course is just beyond the velodrome.


829


Igor Demyanov


Alexandr Dolgushyn

“In 1938, Taisiya Kyrichenko from my

city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine was first

non-Moscow or Leningrad USSR Champion

in women‟s single sculls. She did not sit in

a skiff boat ever before beginning of USSR

Championship because city club had clinker

boats only. However, she won over all

Moscow and Leningrad strong participants.

“The successful and popular Soviet

Premier [from 1943 to 1946] Alexey

Kosygin was the big rowing admirer. He

had been involved in rowing during the

1930s when studied textile engineering in

England. He kept his love for rowing all his

life. While he was the leader of the Soviet

government, he had a single shell at his

countryside villa, dacha in Russian, and

often sculled along the river in the summer.

“In many respects due to his efforts the

Crylatskoye Rowing Complex in Moscow

was constructed in 1973.

Alexandr Dolgushin

Ochkalenko: “The most outstanding

athlete of that time was unique Moscow

sportsman Alexandr Dolgushin (1912-

1943) who mastered absolutely free natural

movements and was not held down by

traditional vision of the rowing technique.

“He was absolutely self-made because

he never had coach. And what is more, who

could coach him, who could teach him to

anything if he surpassed any sportsman or

trainer of that time all over the country?

“He was USSR Champion in the single,

double, coxless-pair and coxed-four between

1934 and 1939, seven titles in all. His

tremendous time result in the single of 7:15

for 2,000m in 1939 put him near to the best

world single scullers of that time.

“During Patriotic War in 1941,

Dolgushyn, an Honored Master of Sport,

was selected along with other great Soviet

athletes to the fifty-man special intelligence-

gathering team Slavnyi2937

and was lost in

1943 in Byelorussia in the fight with the

fascists.2938

Igor Demyanov

Ochkalenko: “The tremendous Igor

Demyanov (1924-1999) was a founding

member of first Krylya Sovetov men‟s

eight, 1946 Soviet Champions. He soon left

the eight and concentrated in the single shell

2937

“Glorious” 2938

http://gomel-

region.gov.by/en/photos?foto_id=1730

THE SPORT OF ROWING

830

mainly. Was 1947-1950 USSR Men‟s

Singles Champion. Had 7:07-7:10 time

results.

“Demyanov applied for 1952 Helsinki

Olympic Selection in the single, but his

parents had been arrested and killed by KGB

in 1945, and in USSR such people were not

allowed to travel abroad. He was called

before USSR Sports Committee and

forbidden to compete.

“He began to coach. He alone created

the surprising Moscow Style [to de

discussed below] for Vyacheslav

Ivanov.2939

He was National Coach in „60s

and won more than 105 Golds with his

pupils.

“Then he was forbidden to coach in

Moscow and on National Team. He tried to

continue on periphery. He wrote the great

two-volume textbook, All About Rowing,

but he was not allowed to publish it.

“In 1968 when all state sports officials

were in Mexico City, he printed a short part

of the book concerning rowing technique in

2939

See Chapter 86.

a small local printing house. When the

officials came back, the book was already

sold out, instantly by the way. I have this

first edition in my library.

“Due to several enthusiasts in Russian

Rowing Federation, the entire work was

finally published in 2000, but Demyanov did

not live to see it.

“The first USSR Rowing Championship

after war was carried out in 1945, basically

between athletes who had begun in the

1930s and stayed alive.

“Every four years between 1956 and

1991, USSR held a unique competition – the

Spartakiad National Games. It was the

check of national sport and simultaneously

training and preparation to the subsequent

Olympiads.

“All fifteen republics and both Moscow

City and Leningrad City were obligated to

enter their teams in all sports. Some Asian

and Caucasus republics which lacked

rowing development were „helped‟ by

regions where sportsmen were many and

they did not get in teams. Sometimes this

resulted in funny things. In 1983, the


1946 Krylya Sovetov Men’s Eight

Bow Sergey Volkov, 2 Evgeniy Bocharov, 3 Alexey Komarov, 4 Igor Borisov,

5 Vladimir Rodimushkin, 6 Igor Demyanov, 7 Boris Zubchuk, Stroke Evgeniy Syrotinskiy,

Coxswain Igor Polyakov

This crew would dominate Soviet rowing for a decade.


831

British Pathé Newsreel, 533-04, Henley Regatta

1955 Klub Krasnoe Znamya Leningrad Men’s Eight

Semi-finalist, Grand Challenge Cup

Bow Roman Zakharov 147lb. 67kg, 2 Anatoly Antonov 183lb. 83kg,

3 Oleg Vasiljev 5‟11” 180cm 176lb. 80kg, 4 Vladimir Kirsanov 171lb. 78kg,

5 Kiril Putyrskiy 178lb. 81kg, 6 Georgy Bruljgart 6‟4” 193cm 200lb. 91kg,

7 Georgy Guschenko 183lb. 83kg, Stroke Boris Federov 183lb. 83kg,

Coxswain B. Bretchko

Fit, experienced, well-coached professional athletes

appeared at Henley rowing their unique version of Fairbairnism,

„Uzbek‟ women‟s eight won against

Moscow crew because it consisted entirely

of Ukrainians.

“Moscow and Leningrad rowers

dominated the first Spartakiad, whereas

Ukrainian and Byelorussian rowers were

strongest in the last one held in 1991.

“The last USSR Championship (though

named as CIS2940

) was carried out in 1992 in

Moscow. The Soviet rowing epoch was

finished.”2941

World Rowing in the 1950s

It turns out in retrospect that throughout

the world the decade of rowing leading up to

the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo may well have

been the most significant of the entire 20th

Century, a series of watershed events

creating a revolutionary boundary in the

evolution of rowing technique.

It was the virtual end for several strands

of rowing DNA and the beginning for

several others. The advantage of historical

2940

Commonwealth of Independent States 2941

Ochkalenko, personal correspondence, 2011

perspective now reveals the beginnings of

all the trends which would drive

international rowing for the next forty years.

One of the most startling developments

of the 1950s for Western countries was the

emergence of Soviet rowers after more than

thirty years of self-imposed isolation. The

West had seen little of any communist

athletes in the decades after the Russian

Revolution of 1917.

The first major international competition

for rowers from the Soviet Union was the

1952 Olympics in Helsinki, and it was a

spectacular debut. Their Krylya Sovetov

Moscow eight came in second to the U.S.

Naval Academy‟s “Great Eight,”2942

Georgi

Zhilin and Igor Emchuk of Klub

Burevestnik Kiev in Ukraine placed second

in the double sculls, and Yuri Tyukalov2943

of Klub Krasnoe Znamya Leningrad won

the single.

In 1954, the Soviets made an equally

auspicious debut at the Henley Royal

Regatta, winning the Grand Challenge Cup

2942


See Chapter 86.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

832


1955 Double Sculls Challenge Cup Final

Henley-on-Thames

Club Burevestnik Kiev Ukraine

Bow Georgy Zhilin 188lb. 85kg, Stroke Igor Emchuk 173lb. 78kg

by ½ length over Grasshopper/Zürich

Bow H. Volmer 169lb. 77kg, Stroke Thomi Keller 189lb. 86kg

Both crews limping toward the finish.

for eights, the Stewards‟ Cup for coxless-

fours and the Silver Goblets for coxless-

pairs.

No wonder that in 1955, in the midst of

the Cold War, the University of

Pennsylvania‟s fondest hope was to meet the

defending champion Soviets in their own

Grand Challenge Cup final.2944

That year, even though the Klub

Krasnoe Znamya eight was eliminated in

its semifinal by Frank Read‟s Canadians,2945

the coxless-pair of Igor Buldakov and Viktor

Ivanov, representing Klub Khimik

Voskresensk near Moscow, defended their

title in the Silver Goblets, and 1952 Olympic

Silver Medalists Zhilin/Emchuk won the

Double Sculls Challenge Cup.

Grasshopper versus Burevestnik

Historian Christopher Dodd tells a

delightful story of how this Soviet double

won its 1955 final over Grasshopper/Zurich.

2944


Ibid.

At the mile mark with the boats almost

level, the stroke of the Swiss crew “looked

across the course and saw a very young man

in blazer and boater sitting in a punt

alongside the booms with his rosy-cheeked

teenage English rose.

“The pimply youth enunciated in clear

Oxford tones: „Well rowed, Grass-

hoppers!‟”2946

The Swiss stroke man burst out laughing

so hard that his concentration disintegrated

just as he and his partner were about to

mount a final attack on their opponents.

Too bad. The Russians were about to

crack.

1955 Henley Program: “Both started at

38, and Zhilin and Emchuck led by a length

at the ¼ mile and at the ½ mile. Vollmer

and Keller then closed up a little. Zhilin and

Emchuck led by ½ length at Fawley and by

½ length at the Mile and won a fine race by

½ length.”2947

2946

Dodd, Henley, p. 156 2947

Double Sculls Challenge Cup, 1955 Henley

Program


833

Incidentally, that Swiss sculler was

Thomas Keller (1924-1989), five-time

Swiss Champion and Singles Bronze

Medalist in the 1950 European

Championships.

Three years later in 1958, Thomi

became President of the Fédération

Internationale des Sociétés d’Aviron (FISA) and led rowing into the modern age.

Ochkalenko: “Dr. Igor Emchuk (1930-

2008) was for many years Vice President

and Rowing Faculty Head of Ukrainian

Sports Academy. He was the Soviet Head

Coach from 1978 to 1980. He and Thomi

Keller remained personal friends until

Keller‟s death in 1989.”2948

Soviet Sports System

The post-World War II Soviet system of

sport organization was developed in the

direction of the German system of the

1930s. The two had a number of similar

2948


features of professionalism and semi-

professionalism.2949

Ochkalenko: “The Sports System of

the Soviet Union was implemented during

the 1930s and remained in effect there until

1991 when the Soviet Union was disbanded.

East European and other communist

countries (GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia,

Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, China,

Mongolia, Northern Korea, Cuba) have

mainly repeated this system and principles.

Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia continue

this system up to now without the large

changes.

“It was based on top-down organization

and support by the Soviet government

through sports clubs associated with

professional and trade unions.

Athlete Categories and Ranks

Ochkalenko: “The status of athletes

was subdivided into temporary and lifetime,

2949

Refer to the PhD thesis of Gerald Anthony

Carr included in the bibliography.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

834

junior and adult. It was necessary to

confirm categories annually, while ranks

were given for life.

“All category- and rank-holders

received medals and certificates, and their

small annual dues payments to their sports

unions were waived.

“Temporary categories:

Third junior category

Second junior category

First junior category

Third adult category

Second adult category

First adult category

Master of Sport candidate

“Lifetime athlete rank-holder could be

employed as sports coach with a University

diploma but without a special sports degree.

The Honored Master of Sport rank allowed

the holder a special sports pension and some

tax decreases. Also, they could attend any

sports event in the USSR free-of-charge.

Coach Categories and Ranks

Ochkalenko: “It was necessary to

confirm temporary coaching categories each

four years:

Third coaching category

Second coaching category

First coaching category

Highest coaching category

“In USSR, the Honored Trainer of a

USSR Republic rank allowed to the holders

a higher salary, a special sports pension and

some tax decreases. They also could attend

any sports event in their Soviet republic

free-of-charge. Now these rights are

abolished.

“USSR sports governmental officials

and clerks could be awarded the USSR

Republic Honored Worker of Physical

Culture and Sports lifetime rank. This also

allowed to the holder a higher salary, a

special sports pension and some tax

decreases. They also could attend any sports

event in their Soviet republic free-of-charge.


835

Unlike the coaches, they have saved their

privileges until now.”2950

Amateur or Professional?

Nash: “The system was based on an

unlimited number of candidates, unlimited

time to train, military housing and food,

Vladivostok warm water in the winter for

training and a position of very high pride in

being a state athlete. They were seen as still

amateur, as their job was army, navy or

governmental, which covered

everything.”2951

But this sort of government-based

approach to sport was seen by many as

antithetical to the amateur ideal of the West.

According to Joe Burk2952

speaking of the

similar German system in 1939: “The

balance of power among oarsmen is being

seized by the dictator countries and by a few

other nations on the continent. The reason

for the rise of oarsmen in Germany and Italy

is plain. Dictators stress athletics as a

national duty.

“For instance, in Germany before the

last Olympics the best oarsmen in the

country were segregated a year ahead of

time and told to concentrate solely on

winning. In one sense, the German and

Italian oarsmen are semi-pros. They‟re

subsidized as a government monopoly.”2953

Though he was not speaking of the

Soviet Union, Burk‟s language reflects the

biases of the pre- and post-World War II

world. In our own post-Cold War era, Dr.

Valery Kleshnev provides appropriate

balance and perspective: “The rapid growth

of professionalism in Soviet sport was

related to the socialist economy but not to

the political system. It was nothing like in

2950

Ochkalenko, op. cit. 2951

Nash, op. cit. 2952


Qtd. by Harvey Patton, Jr., Burk Aiming for

Olympics, The Detroit News, July 20, 1939

other dictatorships, e.g. in Franco‟s Spain or

in Middle Eastern or South American

dictatorships.

“Simply said, the Soviet government

was the exclusive employer in the country,

and it easily created extra jobs for coaches

and athletes when they were needed. We

can see Western countries doing the same

thing today. I‟ve definitely seen it in

Australia and the UK.”2954

Coach and rowing historian Mike

Spracklen:2955

“After World War II,

international sport took on a new dimension.

“The communist countries fought to

show the world that their political system

was better than the West. Winning in sport

became a matter of pride, prestige and

national policy. For them, the Olympics

became as professional as Canadian hockey

or American football. They trained full-

time, and there were big rewards for

winning.”2956

Kleshnev: “Yes, sport achievements

were used for advertising of their country

and political system, but I do not see that as

negative. Now every country with any

political system does the same.”2957

Spracklen: “In Britain when I was a lad,

everyone rowed at 6 o‟clock in the morning,

went to work, and went home in the evening.

They were amateurs and could only train for

a limited amount of time, one or two years,

and now they had to compete against

professionals.”2958

Paul Massey, stroke of the 1952 British

Olympic Bronze Medal coxed-four: “The

standard of these [Helsinki] Games had risen

considerably since 1948. To compete in the

Games one has to sign a declaration of

amateur status, but this has long been a

farce. One is competing against the

2954

Kleshnev, personal correspondence, 2010 2955


Spracklen, personal conversation, 2005 2957

Kleshnev, op cit. 2958

Spracklen, personal conversation, 2005

THE SPORT OF ROWING

836

amateur-professionalism of most other

countries . . . The Gold Medalist in the

sculling event, a Russian student [Yuri

Tyukalov2959

] . . . stated that he had been

selected eighteen months before the Games

started and from that time had been

maintained by his government „as doubtless

2959

See Chapter 86.

your government keeps your athletes,‟ he

remarked.”2960

Republic Pride

Non-Russian athletes and coaches

representing the Soviet Union maintained

their allegiance to their home republics.

2960

Qtd. by Page, p. 106


Strelka, “Little Arrow,” Moscow‟s first rowing club, founded in 1867

“The Moscow Style was created here. The building still exists, but no rowing.”

– Gennadii Ochkalenko

“This is a British boathouse! You can see structures like this around the world, in India,

Sri Lanka, even Undine Barge Club in Philadelphia, anywhere that Brits migrated.”

– Ted Nash


837

Alfonsas Mikishis coxed the Soviet eight

that traveled to the United States in 1962:2961

“We are not Russians, but from Vilna,2962

Lithuania. Selection for the international

races is made in Leningrad twice a year.

There are races between city crews in all

classes, and all are eager to represent their

republics abroad.

“If you are selected there, the work has

just begun. Really you must keep your crew

together and in condition most of the year

long. Even in the winter we practice, using

special booths. Then, as competition

approaches, we row every day, just resting

on Sunday.

“We row twice a day, before and after

work. We practice both sprints and long

trips.

“Rowing is just beginning in colleges

and institutes. We still get most of our

dedicated rowers from sports clubs and

factories.

“Our season is usually from April, when

the ice breaks up, to late November. Even

during the frozen months our oarsmen keep

in shape by skiing, gymnastics or weight

lifting.”2963

American Ted Nash2964

has rowed and

coached against Eastern Bloc crews through

eleven Olympiads: “The training strategy

was big men training very, very hard under

the Soviet compulsory structure, and except

for that, the organizational system itself was

the most important component their success.

“And they made it pay because they

won so much, in sweep and in sculling”2965

American coach Allen Rosenberg2966

remembers that the Soviets trained year-

round “till they dropped.”2967

2961


Vilnius 2963

Qtd. by Lanouette, op cit, pp. 126-7 2964


Nash, op. cit., 2004 2966

See Chapter 107 ff. 2967

Rosenberg, USRA Clinic, Chula Vista, CA,

Sept 11-2, 2004

The Moscow Style

Ochkalenko: “I consider that the 1950s

were the most productive for Soviet rowing

in the sense of creating a unique style. In

1946, the Krylya Sovetov eight won their

first USSR Championship with a style

completely distinct from the others.

“And from 1950 the new, international

era for the Soviet rowing began.”2968

Kleshnev: “The rapid growth of sport

performance in the Soviet Union was based

on developments in sport science, which

was a part of socialism economy.

“First time in the world, sport science

and coaching science became a serious full-

scale science in USSR. In Soviet

terminology, it was called „theory and

practise of physical culture and sport

training.‟ A number of famous scientists

invented and developed scientific principles

of training planning, teaching and

improvement of sporting technique.

„The system contained dedicated

universities with thousands of students, so

every professional coach had to have a

university diploma. There were two

research institutes, in Moscow and in

Leningrad (St. Petersburg now), and they

provided support to national teams and

formed „complex scientific groups‟ –

another invention of Soviet system, where

scientists of various specialties

(physiologists, biomechanists, psychologists

and doctors) worked together to improve

performance.

“A very good review of Soviet research

in rowing technique was done in 1991 by

Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky and Nikolai

Yakunin. Mechanics and Biomechanics of

Rowing: A Review, International Journal of

Sport Biomechanics, 7 / 1991, pp. 229-

281.”2969

2968

Ochkalenko, op. cit. 2969

Kleshnev, op cit.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

838

Nash: “The Soviet system brought

together athletes from eleven countries that

all began with disparate styles. For instance,

the Ukrainians rowed absolutely unlike the

Russians, and the Romanians rowed just like

the Italians of the time. If you saw any of

them rowing, they‟d all be different.

“They researched into what they wanted

and developed a Soviet style, and it took

them four or five years to get that style

together, but because they had unlimited

paid coaches, hundreds of centers and

endless people rowing, in the military as

well as civilians, if a guy couldn‟t change

his technique to what they were now asking,

they could just get rid of him and get

somebody else. That‟s how many athletes

they had.”2970

The technique of the Soviet crews

became known as the Moscow Style, though

some in Britain referred to it as the

Continental Style.2971

I will use the former

name.

In this book, I generally follow the

valuable distinction made by Prof. Volker

Nolte2972

of the University of Western

Ontario in Canada between the words

“technique” and “style,” the former being

2970

Nash, op cit. 2971

Russian Crew Make Fast Henley Time, The

Times of London, July 4, 1958 2972

See Chapter 134.

The Moscow Style Note hand heights approaching the “windmill” entry.

Maximal effort at catch, maintained to release with hybrid-concurrent legs, backs and arms.

-10°, +25° to -10°, 0-10, 0-10, 0-10, Kernschlag, rate 38, sprint 41


1955 Klub Krasnoe Znamya Leningrad

Men’s Eight

3 Oleg Vasiljev, 4 Vladimir Kirsanov,

5 Kiril Putyrskiy, 6 Georgy Bruljgart


839


Alexandr Shwedov in 1954

with the Grand Challenge Cup

based on fundamental principles and the

latter the result of individual preferences and

idiosyncrasies (for example, the Jesus

Style).

Following Nolte‟s guidelines, it might at

first glance seem more appropriate to refer

to the “Moscow Technique,” but in fact it

contains no real deviations from the broad

fundamentals of Classical Technique.

“Moscow Style” is correct.

Technique

At the 1952 Olympics, U.S. Team

Leader Tip Goes was welcomed into the

Soviet boathouse.

The New York Times: “„They don‟t

follow our technique,‟ he said at the time.

„They feather high and are short in the

water. I imagine they do 38 or 39 beats a

minute, whereas we like 32 or 34. But their

crews obviously are accustomed to rougher

water. They don‟t look bad at all.‟”2973

After the same Krylya Sovetov crew

won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley

two years after Helsinki in 1954, the 1955

Soviet Henley entry, Leningrad‟s Klub

Krasnoe Znamya, coached by Samsonov of

Krylya Sovetov, became the object of

intense media scrutiny.

The Daily Express of London

characterized them as having a “rocking,

windmill style.”2974

This referred to the visually distinctive

recovery motion of all Soviet crews in the

1950s from singles to eights.

Ochkalenko: “Krylya Sovetov coaches

Alexandr Shwedov and Alexey Shebuev

created that „rocking, windmill style.‟

“Shwedov was head coach on the water,

and Shebuev was very important adviser,

2973

U.S., Soviet Crews Hit Friendly Note, The

New York Times, July 13, 1952 2974

Qtd. by Dodd, op cit.

who supervised and warned impulsive

Shwedov. Also good teacher.

“Demyanov and other Krylya Sovetov

members emphasized always that they liked

Shebuev as their vital and sports main

adviser, crew keeper also.

“Shwedov was a university professor in

mathematics and Shebuev in chemistry, and

they were the first in the world to explain

rowing technique in terms of the rules and

formulas of mathematics and physics.

“During the 1950s, Krylya Sovetov

crews and single scullers, men and women,

won many European events. They were

undoubtedly the strongest club in Europe at

the time.”2975

For at least a century, the recovery

rhythm of the vast majority of Western

crews, from English Orthodox to Conibear,

had been fast hands away, back swinging

2975


THE SPORT OF ROWING

840

over and then the slide decelerating into the

entry.2976

The Soviets did the opposite: almost

hesitating after the release, then beginning

forward quite slowly until the arms were

almost straight and the backs had swung part

of the way forward. Then recovery speed

would smoothly and progressively increase,

the blade would gather speed, rise a bit off

the water and then circle around (like a

“windmill”), making the entry the crescendo

of the entire recovery.

British rower Colin Porter2977

: “Unlike

American crews, the Russians say that they

prefer to sit and take a rest when they are in

the most comfortable position, which is the

normal „easy-all‟ [release] position.

Differing from all other styles, there is a

clear-cut end to every stroke, and there is no

[Fairbairn] continuous chain movement.

The stroke begins with the slide coming

2976

The only significant exception was the Lady

Margaret Style of Roy Meldrum, a major

precursor to the Moscow Style. See Chapter 76. 2977

See Chapter 78.

forward quite fast, the arms bent until just as

the slide reaches the front stop they

straighten, the blade circles high and latches

on to the water.”2978

Nash: “On the recovery, the Soviets

wanted everyone to accelerate into the stern.

The Americans at the time were talking

deceleration.

“And the other thing that was so

prominent was that they didn‟t have straight

arms. They‟d come out of the bow with

their arms a little bent, and only at the last

micro-nanosecond before the catch would

they straighten their arms, and it was so that

they could snap the blade suddenly into the

water.

“Even though they were rushing up the

slide, it still wasn‟t fast enough. They

wanted it even faster, so by having slightly

bent elbows and straightening them at the

last moment, they could get the blade to do

this „jump‟ into the water.

“Igor Grinko told me that they liked

then to see the bow jump or hop into the air

2978

Porter, Rowing to Win, p. 60

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z11JXKtdB3o

1960 Soviet Union Coxed-Pair, RK Vilnius Žalgiris, Lithuania

Olympic Silver Medal, Lago di Albano

Bow Antanas Bagdonavičius 6‟2” 187cm 187lb. 85kg

Note how he snaps his right elbow straight just at the entry.

The blade follows a “rocking, windmill” path up, around and in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z11JXKtdB3o


841

John Cooke

Club Khimik Voskresensk Coxless-Pair

Stroke Viktor Ivanov 163lb. 74kg,

Bow Igor Buldakov 167lb. 76kg

1954 and 1955 Silver Goblets Champion

1956 Olympic Silver Medal, Melbourne

The Moscow Style featured a visually distinctive “rocking, windmill” motion into the entry.

After a deliberate start, the slide gathered speed, rollup began early, the blade rose

and followed a circular “windmill” path up, around and aggressively into the water.

as it reduced the drag of the bow wave. My

own though at the time was: Hey, if the bow

goes up, the stern goes down. How do you

know you‟re not swapping one for the

other?

“Then they would recoil off the

footboards, accelerate in, and the shaft

would bend early on.

“The jumping away from the footboard

was amazing because you couldn‟t believe

anybody could get to the stern with such a

rush, catch with such blinding speed, and

still jump away from the footboards.”2979

Porter: “The Russian explanation of the

bound up to frontstops is simply that of the

bouncing ball: the faster the approach to the

frontstops, the faster the rebound.”2980

2979

Nash, op cit. 2980

Porter, op cit, p. 61

The “rebound effect” of springing into

the catch and recoiling back was visually

quite distinctive.

In the words of Allen Rosenberg, “I

remember seeing the Soviet crews throwing

their bodies into the stern, lifting and

hauling!”2981

Force application from the entry all the

way to the release ranged from an effective

Kernschlag to a very elegant Schubschlag

characterized by a high arc of the back.

Fairbairn on the Steppes

Samsonov: “If there is a „Russian Style

of rowing, it has been developed since the

war. Our Bible has been My Stories on

2981

Rosenberg, personal conversation, 2004

THE SPORT OF ROWING

842

Rowing2982

by Stiv Ferbern. He has most

influenced the sport in our country. His

book was later improved and its rules

applied to the sport by two famous trainers –

Shwedov and Shebuev. On their studies,

Russian rowing is founded.”2983

Kleshnev: “In rowing, sport science

played a positive role in 1950s, when two

bright coaches, Shwedov and Shebuev,

developed a scientific model of Soviet

rowing style based on Fairbairn ideas.”2984

Spracklen: “When the Soviet team

came to Henley in the 1950s, they rowed

very high and around and in, and that was

their interpretation of Fairbairn.

“It wasn‟t really what Steve taught, but

it was their interpretation. They drove it in

from behind, so it actually hit the water

hard.”2985

In other words, they were attempting to

recreate the Jesus Bell-Note!2986

Zenon Babraj, former Polish national

team rower and coach and currently the

women‟s coach at the University of

Southern California, recalls:

“When I started rowing, we rowed good

Moscow Style: you go and hit with the

body, and then see what happens. So there

was emphasis on lifting the shoulders,

really. A lot of teams in Eastern Europe

were rowing like this.”2987

Despite initial inspiration from the

writings of Fairbairn, the Moscow Style

represented a radical departure from the

rhythm and the force application patterns of

the Conibear and Fairbairn approaches, and

Babraj‟s description effectively captures

how the difference felt to the participant.

2982

Russian translation of Chats on Rowing. 2983

Qtd. by Lanouette, op cit, pp. 125-6 2984


Spracklen, op cit. 2986

See Chapter 14 ff. 2987

Babraj, USRA Clinic, Chula Vista, CA, Sept

11-2, 2004

For many, instead of a preoccupation

with the Courtney-Fairbairn single-cut

pullthrough, an entry accelerated strongly to

the release, the Moscow emphasis was all on

the front half of the stroke with the rest an

afterthought.

This is Kernschlag, although many

crews, especially in small sweep and

sculling boats, strongly accelerated to the

release after their windmill entry.

Race Strategy

It should be recalled that through the

1950s the common strategy was to

aggressively take the lead early in the race

and crack your opponent, and this was also

the Soviet approach. An integral component

was their high stroke rate, and their

pullthroughs were impressive during

practice and early in their races when their

entry-to-release acceleration was still

consistent and effective.

Unfortunately, their race pace seemed to

mirror their approach to a single stroke: “Hit

it hard, and see what happens.”2988

When

they got tired, they tended not to be able to

make it to the finish, either of their strokes

or of their races. If their opponents had

cracked first, then they won. If not, they

lost, sometimes spectacularly.

At the 1952 Olympics, Krylya Sovetov

first came up against the U.S. in their semi-

final. When the Americans started to inch

away, the Soviets cracked, almost stopped

rowing and lost by twelve seconds. In the

final, the two boats were even through the

1,000 when the Americans put in a power-

10. That ended the race. The Soviets

eventually ceded half a length of open water

and were almost caught by the Australians.

In the 1955 Henley Double Sculls

Challenge Cup, Thomi Keller and

Grasshopper/Zurich cracked first, and Klub

Burevestnik won, but they also collapsed

2988

Babraj, op cit.


843

and slowed down as soon as their rivals had

begun to fall back.

In the semifinals for the 1955 Grand

Challenge Cup, the Klub Krasnoe eight

cracked while leading and were rowed down

from behind by UBC/Vancouver R.C.2989

1956

The 1956 Soviet Olympic Trials were a

case of dominoes.

Defending 1952 Olympic singles

champion Yuri Tyukalov failed to win the

single, and so he teamed with newcomer

Aleksandr Berkutov and won the Doubles

Trials. That forced Helsinki and Henley

double scullers Emchuk and Zhilin into the

coxed-pair with coxswain Vladimir Petrov.

The man who began the dominoes

falling by winning the Singles Trials was 18-

year-old Vyacheslav Ivanov.2990

At the 1956 Olympics, Emchuk

/Zhilin/Petrov won coxed-pair Bronze

behind Ayrault/Findlay/Seifert of the

U.S.2991

In the coxless-pair,

Buldakov/Viktor Ivanov, two-time Henley

winners and two-time European Champions,

came in second to Fifer/Hecht of the United

States.2992

Tyukalov/Berkutov, a simply gorgeous

combination, won the double, and

Vyacheslav Ivanov won the single.

Altogether, Soviet rowers had won a

total of three Gold, two Silver and one

Bronze in two Olympic Games, mostly in

small boats.

2989

who were then narrowly defeated in the final

by Pennsylvania. See Chapter 65. 2990



See Chapter 81.

Mature Moscow Style

By 1964 in Tokyo, the USSR Olympic

single, double, pairs, fours and eight all

rowed a more mature and nuanced version

of the Moscow Style.

The recovery had moderated somewhat.

There was less “windmill,” and the

concurrent pullthrough relied more heavily

on the legs. They approached the entry with

shoulders and heads low, leaning the bodies

forward +25° and bending the inside elbows.

Then they extended their arms and very

aggressively lifted their heads and shoulders

upward to put their oars into the water.

On the pullthrough, the evolution was in

the other direction, away from moderation.

Load on the oars appeared to be very heavy,

and this was exacerbated by the switch

during this era to wider and wider blades.

The Soviets always had the widest blades of

anyone, and this would have been felt by

them most acutely at the entry, encouraging

oarsmen to counter the load with

increasingly assertive leg application.

Soviet rowers through 1956 displayed

well-developed shoulders and arms and less

bulk in their legs, a bit like gymnasts, only

much larger. Stan Pocock later recalled

how developed their legs had become by

1960. “They knew where the power

lay.”2993

Careful study of films of the 1964

Soviet crews reveals that they still used their

legs, backs and arms concurrently from

entry to release, as had been the case with

Soviet boats in the 1950s. Beginning with

their aggressive catches, the Soviets would

suspend their bodies on their oar handles.

However, some 1964 crews still

displayed an almost imperceptible force

discontinuity as the initial explosive impact

of the legs at the catch dissipated,

2993

Qtd. by Dodd, World Rowing, p. 107

THE SPORT OF ROWING

844

Tokyo Olympic Committee

1964 Soviet Union Men’s Eight

6 Antanas Bagdonavičius 6‟2” 187cm 187lb. 85kg, 5 Pyatras Karla 6‟2” 188cm 190lb. 86kg

(Rowers from RK Žalgiris Vilnius Lithuania)

+5°, +25° to -15°/-20°, 0-8, 0-10, 0-10, rate 38, sprint 41

Recovery (not shown) was slow and then accelerating into the entry.

Maximal effort at catch, then maintained to release.

Much of 1950s “windmill” action had moderated by 1964.

symptomatic of segmented Kernschlag pull-

throughs.

Layback was limited to -15° to -20°, but

due to the heavy load and the early

aggressiveness, the back and arms tended to

fall behind and still have 8” to 10” to go to

the chest by the time the legs had completed

their motion.

This mirrored the 3rd

Generation

Conibear hybrid-concurrent innovation of

Cornell University, which the Soviet

coaches would have had a chance to study

during their impressive appearance at

Henley in 1957.2994

In 1964, having lifted their heads and

shoulders in the first half of the stroke, the

posture of the Soviet crews would tend to

2994

See Chapter 70.

collapse toward the finish, with the athletes

rowing down into their laps with a hint of

ferryman‟s finish.

In summary, by the 1960s the rowing

style developed in the Soviet Bloc

accelerated into a Fairbairnesque frontsplash

entry, had upper bodies lifting vertically in

the first half of their Kernschlag pullthrough

and sagging during an abbreviated second

half. They used legs, backs and arms in a

Classical hybrid-concurrent manner which

featured a strong emphasis on legs at the

entry with arms struggling to finish the

pullthrough.

Kleshnev: “Unfortunately, in 1960s the

role of some incorrect scientific concepts

became negative. When force curve and

instantaneous boat velocity data became

available, wrong conclusions were made


845

about the main criteria of efficient

technique, which were defined as

minimisation of variation of the boat speed

and later peak of force application during

the drive. These incorrect principles were

widely promoted: even educational film was

made for coaches and students.”2995

But the 1960s Moscow Style influence

continued in the United States through

Harry Parker, who had observed Klub

Krasnoe Znamya in 1955 from his position

in the 2-seat of the University of

Pennsylvania eight.2996

Nine years later, he had the chance to

closely study the 1964 Soviet Olympic

Team as coach of the U.S. coxed-four from

Harvard University.2997

Conventional wisdom says today that

the Harvard Technique of the 1960s was

based on that of Ratzeburger Ruderclub,

whom we will discuss shortly. Indeed,

Harry himself gives them a great deal of

credit, but he will tell you that the crew that

really caught his eye in 1964 was the Soviet

coxed-four rowing the Moscow Style.

Cross-Pollination

By the late 1960s, the German

Democratic Republic,2998

known familiarly

as East Germany, came to dominate world

rowing. Behind the Iron Curtain, GDR

Style built on the Moscow Style and quickly

and completely overshadowed it so that the

seminal role of the original style of the

Soviet Union was soon nearly forgotten by

the rest of the world.

Kleshnev: “The rowing technique of

many Soviet crews was changed in 1970s:

2995




In English, German Democratic Republic or

GDR. Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) or

the Federal Republic of Germany was the official

name of “West Germany.” See Chapter 119.

the catch became much softer, coaches

taught rowers „Do not stop the boat at

catch,‟ „maintain the boat speed,‟ „pull the

handle before pushing the stretcher at catch.‟

Soviet coaches started coping Karl Adam‟s

style2999

with its active trunk drive at the

catch and then DDR style, but a copy is

always worse than original. In 1970s and

„80s, in spite of very good average level,

many crews in finals and some outstanding

crews (men‟s single and double in 1972,

men‟s coxed-four in 1976, women‟s double

in 1980, men‟s coxless-pair in 1981), the

Soviet rowing style lost its flashing

brightness.”3000

The Pimenov Twins

One of the most successful Soviet crews

of the era was the Pimenov twins’ coxless-

pair, seven-time international medalists

between 1979 and 1990. The mild

accelerating recovery remained, and force

application had evolved from Kernschlag

back to Schubschlag.

Nash: “I made a study of films of the

Pimenovs, and they were probably the

cleanest in and the cleanest out of all rowers

in the world. They were distinctly different-

sized twins, but they made it work.

“They smoked cigarettes relentlessly, in

and out of the boat. I‟ve actually seen them

smoking in the boat, and in the dining hall

they would constantly be told they weren‟t

supposed to be smoking, but they did.

“Their starts were phenomenal, and

often they held on to win, but their tendency

to falter in the last 150 meters was their

undoing in many, many races. I think there

must have been two or three major races

where they were rowed through by the end,

and I wondered if some of their losses

weren‟t a result of their smoking.”3001

2999


Kleshnev, personal correspondence, 2010 3001

Nash, op. cit., 2011

THE SPORT OF ROWING

846

FISA 1989 Video

Dymano Moskva Coxless-Pair 1979 Silver, 1980 Silver, 1981 Gold, 1985 Gold, 1986 Gold, 1987 Bronze, 1990 Silver

Stroke Nikolay Pimenov 6‟3” 193cm 190lb. 86kg, Bow Yuriy Pimenov 6‟5” 198cm 207lb. 94kg

0°, +40° to -20°, 0-8, 0-10, 0-10, hybrid-concurrent Schubschlag

Accelerating recovery to instantaneous catch.

Emphasis on early leg motion, surge to finish.

The 1985 World Championship final in

Hazewinkel is an excellent of the Pimenovs‟

racing style. They pulled out an entire

length in the first 150 meters and a length

and a half by the 250. They maintained that

margin to the 500 when the British pair of

Adam Clift and Martin Cross attacked to

close to within one length at the 750 and

half a length at the 1,000.

As the water got rougher, the margin

grew to a length again at the 1,500, and then

the Brits poured it on. As the Pimenovs

struggled to reach the line, the Brits kept


847

FISA 2004 DVD

2004 Russian Federation Men’s Quad

Olympic Champion, Schinias

Bow Sergei Fyodorovtsev 6‟5” 195cm 198lb. 90kg,

2 Igor Kravtsov 6‟4” 192cm 231lb. 105kg

Pullthrough was concurrent with strong

front half leading to ferryman‟s finish.

\

0°, +30° to -10°, 0-8, 0-9, 0-10, Classical Technique, stroke 35, sprint 39

After forty years, Moscow Style had evolved from Kernschlag to Schubschlag.

coming. They fell short by a few inches,

perhaps 10cm.3002

The Moscow Style Today

Has the Moscow Style survived into the

21st Century?

Ted Nash: “The fall of the Iron Curtain

may have slowed it down a little bit, but the

Soviet Style is still around!

“The Russian Federation men‟s quad

that won in 2004 in Athens rowed the

3002

For British coach Mike Spracklen‟s

recounting of the race, see Chapter 130.

Moscow Style, and it hadn‟t changed one

iota since the „50s!3003

“Ukrainians of today also row the old

Soviet Style, give or take a little bit of the

arm snap, and here comes Estonian single

sculler Jueri Jaanson, who couldn‟t win a

thing in the late „90s.

“Where did Jueri go? He went to

Russia, but it happened to be via Augusta,

Georgia, USA.

3003

This is an exaggeration. Over forty years,

force application had been transformed from

Kernschlag to Schubschlag.

THE SPORT OF ROWING

848

Peter Spurrier

Igor Grinko

Ted Nash Collection

Igor Grinko

The coach that Jaanson came to in

Georgia was former Soviet National Coach

Igor Grinko.

Ochkalenko: “Grinko rowed and

coached in Ukraine. He was USSR Doubles

Champion representing Dynamo Kiev.”3004

Nash: “Jaanson came to the United

States not to learn our technique but to train

under Igor Grinko, a former Soviet coach

who teaches the same Soviet Style, with

maybe a little modification of the body tilt.

“Jaanson regrouped, came back onto

form and almost won in Athens. On the

beach after the Olympic final, the

Norwegian winner, Olav Tufte, said in front

of me, in front of Igor and directly to

Jaanson:

“„Jueri, if you had had one more attack,

I couldn‟t have answered it.‟

“Jaanson got an Olympic Silver Medal

after losing everything to everybody, even

3004


losing to U.S. lightweights in Augusta when

he first arrived!”3005

Jaanson had all the classic components

of the Moscow Style, accelerated recovery

and rocking, windmill entry. His

pullthrough featured strong and effective

Kernschlag force application. However,

instead of the Moscow Style‟s Classical

concurrency, Jaanson rowed Modern

Orthodox overlapping-sequential body

mechanics.

Nash: “The Moscow Style created for

the fifteen republics of the old Soviet

System half a century ago is still alive.

“And it is still winning!

“Jueri Jaanson was the top medal winner

for Estonia in Athens, and Estonia had been

one of those fifteen Soviet republics.”3006

3005

Nash, op cit., 2004 3006

Nash, op cit.


849

FISA 2004 DVD

Jueri Jaanson, Estonia

6‟4” 192cm 212lb. 96kg

2004 Olympic Silver Medal, Schinias

2004 Moscow Style: accelerating recovery and classic

“rocking, windmill” motion into the entry (not shown).

Pullthrough: strong front half to ferryman‟s finish.

-10°, +20° to -20°, 0-9, 0-9, 0-10, stroke 37, sprint 39


Jueri Jaanson

Sequantiality of legs and back

led to lumpy first half curve.

Left-leaning curve is a characteristic of

effective Kernschlag force application.

One of the most successful boats that

Grinko coached while in the United States

was the 1996 American Men‟s Quad that

won Olympic Silver on Lake Lanier.

Nash: “With little or no support, little or

no recognition from USRowing, Igor‟s

men‟s quad of 1996 was made up of club

leftovers, and two were almost novices!

“Jason Gailes, the eventual stroke-seat,

had been a mere intermediate sweep

oarsman at Penn A.C. in 1994 when Igor

brought him into sculling in Georgia and

made him a national champion. He took

him from sweep to sculling to stroke to

Silver Medal. That‟s how good Igor was.

“Otherwise, 1996 was not a great year

for American rowing.”3007

3007

Nash, op. cit., 2011

THE SPORT OF ROWING

850

The Grinko Style

Dr. Valery Kleshnev‟s analysis of

various modern rowing techniques

characterizes the “Grinko Style” as long-

slide and sequential in body mechanics.3008

The entire „96 quad with the exception of 3-

seat Eric Mueller who is extremely tall,

3008

See Chapter 167.

compressed to a +10° shin angle, which

limited body angle forward to +30°. This

extreme compression actually makes it more

difficult lead with the legs, and so like the

Ratzeburg crews of the 1950s and „60s who

also used long slides,3009

the American quad

showed no sequentiality. Unlike Modern

Orthodox sculler Jaanson, they actually used

their legs and backs concurrently.

3009

See Chapter 92.

FISA 1996 Video

1996 United States Men’s Quad

Olympic Silver Medal, Lake Lanier

Bow Tim Young 6‟4” 193cm 207lb. 94kg, 2 Brian Jamieson 6‟4” 193cm 209lb. 95kg,

3 Eric Mueller 6‟7” 200cm 225lb. 102kg, Stroke Jason Gailes 6‟4” 193cm 205lb. 93kg

+10°, +30° to -20°, 0-7, 0-9, 0-10, Classical Technique

Concurrent Kernschlag, late arm draw, ferryman‟s finish


851

Kleshnev also characterizes the Grinko

Style as Kernschlag in force application,3010

and indeed the U.S. quad appears to have a

force curve similar to that of Jueri Jaanson,

shown earlies in this chapter. Note also that

the quad set their footstretchers so that they

released with their handles in front of them,

just like with Jaanson. This would limit

reach and maximize length at the release,

putting the point at which the sculls passed

through perpendicular to the hull earlier in

the pullthrough.

Nash: “Igor Grinko gave the USA a

full-value package of new all-body weight

lifting. He gave mileage at low, really

powerful rates. He taught us about TR

(Training Rowing) machines, and he made

them out of scrap parts, pulleys with cables.

You sit on a sliding seat and pull a handle

3010

See Chapter 168.

just like you would an erg, and when you let

go, the weights would go crashing down on

a pile of old tires to prevent them from

breaking the building up.3011

He also treated men and women as

equals, first coach in the United States to

ever do that. Absolutely equal!

“Igor is a U.S. citizen and a resident of

Augusta, Georgia. He is presently the head

coach in China and has produced several

championship medals in lightweight and

heavyweight, men‟s and women‟s events.

In my opinion, Igor was one of the hardest-

working and least-thanked coaches I‟ve ever

seen in sixty years in the sport.”3012

Many thanks to Gennadii Ochkalenko,

Ted Nash and Valery Kleshnev for

invaluable advice and substantial

contributions to this chapter.

3011

Joe Burk had built exactly the same

apparatus at the University of Pennsylvania

boathouse in the late 1950s. You could hear the

weights come crashing to the floor halfway

down Boathouse Row. See Chapter 94. 3012

Nash, op. cit.

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