Greatest Races Week 30

In 1964 Vyasheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov sat on the line in Tokyo for the start of the Heat of the Olympic Games as a Lion might lazily yawn and stumble upward before drawing its attention towards its next meal. A titan of historic rowing prominence; having won 2 Olympic games in dramatic and dominant fashion in 1956 and 1960, Ivanov’s first Olympic Gold Medal came as a result of a furious sprint that vaulted him past 3 people including rowing legend John B. Kelly, Jr in 1956. This sprint would become a trademark that left many athletes humbled and fearful when facing Ivanov with anything less than open water in the last 500-m.

Don Spero, having less than 3 years of sculling experience, had spent the last 3 months of his life devising a plan to combat that kick. Rowing double sessions a day for months, doing only short hard sprint work, he would combat strength with strength and attempt to beat the Russian at his own game. In 1964 he did just that, defeating Ivanov in the heat of the Olympics a feat many at the time felt was a big upset. Although he was defeated by Ivanov and the rough water to finish 6th in the final, he would go on to finally defeat the Russian in the 1966 World Championships in Yugoslavia and become the last American to win that event until Jamie Koven did it over 30 years later.