article by Nicholas Pucci
When he shows up at 1972 Munich Olympics to compete with Yuri Lobanov nella gara del C2 1000 meters, Vladislovas Cesiunas, Lithuanian di Vysnialaukis flying the Soviet flag, he is already 32 years old and an almost empty individual palmares, if one excludes himself the bronze won the year before at the World Championships in Belgrade rowing solo in the C1 1000m.
Ergo, he really doesn’t expect that edition of the Games marred by the attack of “black september” may become the keystone of a career that is destined to give him many satisfactions.
Al Oberschleißheim regatta course it competes from 5 to 9 September, and the news about Romanian favorites Ivan Patzaichin and Serghei Covaliov, who over the last few years have won the Olympics (Mexico City 1968), Europeans (Moscow 1969) and World Cups (Copenhagen 1970), instead having to settle for second place in the last world championship (Belgrade 1971) when they were surprised by the Hungarian couple made up of Tamas Wichmann and Gyula Petrikovic, however already runners-up at the Mexican Gameswho in Bavaria are one engaged in the single race, the other absent.
The Bulgarians Ivan Burchin and Fedia Damianov, third in Belgrade albeit associated with Viktor Boichev, seem to be the most accredited rivals, just as some podium illusions lull her both the West Germans Peter Hoffmann and Hermann Glaser, that the “cousins” who are beyond the Wall Dirk Weise and Dieter Lichtenberg, while the Soviets, albeit accompanied by a great tradition in the kayak specialty, did not receive much credit, despite the third place conquered four years earlier in Mexico by Naum Prokupets and Mikhail Zamotin.
The 16 crews entered in the race are divided into two batteriesand in the first they are right Cesiunas and Lobanov set the fastest time, 4’07″73preceding West Germany and Canada (which relies on John Wood and Scott Lee), with Patzaichin, also engaged in the single test of the C1 1000 meters which will give him the gold medal, and Covaliov who are the fastest in the second heat ahead of East Germany and Bulgaria, but the timing does not confirm them as the fastest couple, 4’09″21.
As, however, it happens in the semifinals when the Soviets set the new Olympic record, 3’51″96 ahead of Sweden and Bulgaria, but the Romanians do better by 53 cents, 3’51″43, and with East Germany winning the third semi-final in 3’52″66 they go on to win a place in a final that promises to be decidedly open now.
Of course. To the decisive act Romania and the Soviet Union offer one of the most fascinating and thrilling challenges of the entire Olympic eventdominating the competition and rowing in pairs to the finish line, where they practically arrive alongside each other and only the photo finish can at this point establish which boat finally deserves to sing victoryand the enormous satisfaction belongs to Cesiunas and Lobanov, decreed Olympic champions for the trifle of 3 hundredths of a second.
The good Vladislovas doesn’t seem to believe that once he has crossed the threshold of 30 his golden moment has come… and then he really takes pleasure in it and in the seasons to come, always together with his inseparable adventure companion, he will be four times world champion.
And who said that beauty shouldn’t come from “old people”?
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