USA TABLE OF CONTENTS THE OLYMPIC DREAM ON THE ROAD GOING FOR THE GOLD MORE ABOUT THE 1936 U.S. OLYMPIC ROWING TEAM GLOSSARY INDEX Red text identifies historical quotes UNA UNA USA 4 8 14 22 23 24 USA USA UA UA
4 THE OLYMPIC DREAM It is April 18 1936. Thousands of people are gathered for the Pacific Coast Regatta It is the first big rowing race of the season on the West Coast Many people in the crowd are cheering for the University of Washington They face their main rival the University of California Berkeley Berkeley is well known for their rowing In 1928 and 1932 their coach Ky Ebright led crews to Olympic gold medals University of Washington coach Al Ulbrickson has Olympic dreams of his own Over the past few years he has trained his varsity crew to be fierce competitors He hopes they will be able to compete in this year's 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin Germany W But the team must win several races before they can qualify
The Pacific Coast Regatta starts out well for the Berkeley crew They quickly pull ahead For a while Washington works hard to match their stroke rate Ready all But then Washington coxswain Bobby Moch decides to slow his crew's pace Slow it down a little They pull their oars through the water again and again Row The slower pace lets the crew row more powerfully Much of the crew grew up on farms or have worked in logging which has made them extremely strong Moch's direction pays off The Washington shell pulls ahead beating Berkeley by three boat lengths They even set a new course record 5
