By Lynn Saternow
Herald Sports Editor
While rowing doesn’t get a lot of top coverage at the Olympic Games, many Mercer County residents were keeping an eye on the results because of a familiar name — Winklevoss — in the “pairs without coxswain” event.
That’s because twins Cameron and Tyler, sons of 1961 Mercer High and 1965 Grove City College grad Howard Winklevoss, were competing in the event.
The twins, who hail from Greenwich, Conn., did an outstanding job in finishing 6th in the finals. A duo from Australia won the race, followed in order by Canada, New Zealand, Germany, South Africa and then the U.S. pair.
During the Olympics, Howard and his wife Carol kept up with friends in the county by e-mail from Beijing.
Following are some of the e-mail comments from the proud parents prior to the finals:
“They've been working on this full time for the last 4 years since graduating from college, and it's an event that boils down to 6 1/2 minutes, with generally a second or two between boats. In other words, you can't really recover from even the smallest mistake — and it's difficult to explain why one boat goes faster than another — because it's not directly associated with how hard one pulls on the boats. Sure, pulling your guts out is a requirement, but there's a lot more to it than that. One Olympian told me it took 6 years of rowing 3-hours a day to finally start ‘feeling the connection between the oar and water’ and to begin understanding how to make the boat run fast. ...
“So the boys have their hands full. They've been rowing the pair for 2 years, whereas their competition has probably been rowing it since 9th grade (10 or more years). Not trying to make any excuses here, just letting everyone know the realities of their event. The boys are cool with this, are delighted to have made the U.S. team, and will surely give it all they have. ...
“Computer access here is tough, but the hotel finally set up a couple of terminals in a conference room (and of course everyone at the hotel wants to use it at the same time!). ...
“Weather conditions here are the worst possible. Hot and VERY humid. Can't imagine exercising in this weather — let alone racing. I don't think it's pollution as much as just extremely high humidity. Can’t see more than a football field or two in front of you due to fog (or smog, or whatever it is). And haven't seen the sun (or a blue sky) since we arrived! ...
”The Beijing Olympic ‘Here's China’ thing is kind of silly. They’ve ordered most cars off the roads (which is good) but they have also closed off just about everything except the traditional tourist boats. For example, I went to a small town near the hotel (which itself is 25 miles outside of downtown Beijing) and all I was allowed to do was walk down the main street (about 2 blocks) because they had all roads leading off the main street blocked with police guards. In other words, tourists are blocked from seeing the ‘real China.’ Everything that you see is clean and nice, and there's no poverty and so forth. I expect that our news coverage will be fairly critical of this at some point.”
The twins had to battle to reach the finals. They lost their first heat, but came back to win the “repechage” which is “second chance” in French. From there they advanced through the semis to become one of the 6 finalists.
“Reaching the A-Final is a monumental achievement for these guys,” writes Howard. “And while learning how to compete against the best international crews isn't something that's supposed to be learned during the Olympics, they seem to be up to the task and even enjoying it! ...
“But whatever the outcome, these guys have represented the US A in a most honorable fashion and can be very proud of their achievement. And we appreciate all of the support you guys have given them (and us). Wishing them God speed.”
While the twins didn’t quite reach the medal stand, all of Mercer County can feel proud for the sons of a native son!
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Winklevoss Olympians are sons of Mercer High graduate
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