Harvard's Olympic Crew Places Last In Final Race

Harvard's--and the United States'-- Impossible Dream for Olympic gold came to a disappointing end Saturday as the varsity heavy crew stroked home last in the eight-man rowing finals.

The Crimson turned in its best time in Olympic competition--6:14.34--and "rowed the best and strongest they could row," according to Harvard coach Harry Parker. Unfortunately it just wasn't strong enough against the most powerful crews in the world.

A well-precisioned West German crew, clocked at 6:07.00 for the 2000-meter Xochimilco course, captured the gold medal and upset pre-race favorite New Zealand (6:10.43), which eventually finished fourth.

Underrated Australia (6:07.98) closed fast to grab the silver medal, and Russia churned out a 6:09.11 time for third place.

Strong Start

Harvard came in sixth behind New Zealand and Czechoslovakia (6:12.17).

The Crimson started out very strong, coming off the line at about 42 strokes per minute and settling to a 37 for most of the race. At the 500-meter mark, the U.S. was third, little more than a second behind leader New Zealand.

By the end of the first half of the race, Harvard was still within a half length of New Zealand, but West Germany had moved up to press New Zealand for the front spot. And by the 1500-meter buoy, Harvard had slipped to fourth and continued to fade.

With about 500 meters remaining, West Germany made its move and took a clear lead over the fading New Zealanders. Sprinting powerfully, Australia and Russia both passed New Zealand, and Czechoslovakia fell back to fifth.

And for Harvard, the race turned into a disheartening repetition ol last Sunday's preliminary heat.

Harvard shifted its strategy for Saturday's finals, starting much faster than it had in the repechage heat.

In the repechage, with number three oar Steve Brooks in the stroke seat and Jake Fiechter '67 in number three, the Crimson had stayed off pace and then managed a spectacular comeback to get the second-place finish it needed to gain the finals.

But against such tough competition, Harvard couldn't afford to gamble on the same play again. "The reason we had to take a strong start was to keep from falling back early in the race," Parker said.

"We wanted to stay with the field and keep the pressure on without over-extending ourselves," Parker said. But Harvard just couldn't hold the pace and still have enough left over at the end for a final sprint, something both West Germany and Australia were able to accomplish successfully.

"We had to row that way," Parker said. "The other crews who split up the medals were just faster and better on Saturday," he said.

The U.S. fared equally badly in the other rowing events. No other nation had ever before put boats into all seven finals, and it was expected to win at least two gold medals. But for the first time in Olympic rowing history, the U.S. was shut out from the gold, and had to settle for one silver and one bronze.