This summer, a number of athletes competing in the Olympic Games were younger than Virginia alum Wyatt Allen was when he picked up an oar for the first time -- but that didn't stop Allen and the U.S. men's eight from grabbing gold in Athens.
The unique mixture of strength and finesse, as well as the unparalleled amount of teamwork, needed to succeed in rowing makes it a sport that draws participants in much later in life than other sports. Allen caught the rowing bug his first year at Virginia and was propelled by talent and hard work all the way to the 2004 Olympics.
Allen and the rest of his boat were far from favorites in this year's games. The American lineup fell far short of the favored Canadians in terms of experience and practice time as a team. The eight-person shell had been reorganized several times relatively shortly before the games began and six of the eight rowers in the boat were new to the Olympics. However, the fresh lineup led to victory for the U.S.
As a former member of the High Performance Committee for U.S. Rowing, which helps choose members of the national and Olympic teams, Virginia women's crew coach Kevin Sauer is familiar with the positive and negative repercussions lineup changes can have.
"This boat hadn't been together that long and there was an excitement bred in that," Sauer said. "In some ways they didn't know any better, which is a positive thing sometimes. They just went."
After becoming comfortable with the lineup, the eight took their first step towards gold by setting a world record and beating the Canadians in one of the preliminary heats. Not only did the achievement show the boat what they were capable of, it broke the stride of the Canadians.
"I do think it rattled them a bit," Allen said. "They hadn't been beaten in two years."
The win also pumped up the American eight.
"It boosted things," Allen said. "We knew we had the speed. I definitely was optimistic but I knew we hadn't beaten them by much and we had to do it one more time. No one was overconfident."
The early win gave the boat the necessary confidence to uncharacteristically gain the lead early and maintain it throughout the 2000-meter final.
"We've been developing a reputation for being a slow starter and having a really good sprint," Allen said. "So we figured the other boats would try to get a big enough lead the first 1000 [meters], so we shifted our focus from the second 1000 [meters] to the first 1000 [meters]."
The switch-up worked, even through The Netherlands' push through the sprint. In the final 500 meters the Dutch gained significant water but in the end were unable to make up for the American's early push.
"We were definitely aware of them," Allen said. "We did what we had to do, which was not make a mistake. We knew if we did that we would win the race."
Allen's rise from a first-time rower at Virginia to a gold medalist in Athens took him a mere seven years. While it is not unusual for rowers to pick up an oar for the first time at the college level, Allen caught on faster than most.
"Wyatt pretty much took to it right away," Labriola said. "There are some guys that don't have that [pre-collegiate] experience and it took them a lot longer. He's done a lot, starting at square one."
In the past, high profile achievements for American teams in the international arena have spawned an influx of interest -- as with women's soccer and the 1999 U.S. World Cup win. While the rowing victory was shown in primetime in the United States, Allen has his doubts that the sport will stay on the forefront of American psyche.
"American culture has the big three -- football, basketball, baseball -- and its tough for any other sport to break that mold," Allen said. "But I'd be psyched if [rowing] did."
Sauer, on the other hand, expects at least a slight influx of interest in the coming weeks and hopes to capitalize on it by holding an interest meeting for first-time rowers this weekend.
For Allen, what started as a college pastime has become a career and even a way of life. For the U.S. men's eight what started as a "realistic goal" has become a reality.
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