Did the Iron Curtain boycott affect the rowing events?
Definitely. East Germany, who were our closest rivals in the coxed fours, and the Soviet Union were both very strong rowing nations. Their absence devastated the competition. 3 Did that take the gloss off your own gold medal? I’m not sure. We had beaten the German boat at the Lucerne Regatta, the last major competition before the Games, with a world-record time. So we felt we were the best at the time. On the other hand, Harald Jahrling would have been going for his third gold medal, if he had been allowed to take part. Having come to know Harald and having worked under an East German coach [Jurgen Grobler] for 10 years, I know the meticulous preparation and determination that their team would have brought. It would have been a great race. 4 What do you think of sporting boycotts? They are easy tools for governments to grab the headlines. After all, it doesn’t cost them anything not to send a team. America could have brought the Soviet Union to its knees in 1980 by refusing to sell it
