Sunday, September 24, 2000
3 rowers come away empty
By Paul Daugherty
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PENRITH, Australia — Anger and disappointment replaced elation and joy for three Cincinnati rowers at the Olympics Sunday.
Kelly Salchow, Bryan Volpenhein and Greg Ruckman will remember fondly appearing in the Games. But for various reasons, each will go home less than fulfilled.
Salchow's frustration topped the list.
Kelly Salchow (left) and teammates rest after the finals.
(AP photo)
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The women's quadruple sculls finished fifth, 10 seconds behind gold medal-winning Germany. A nasty legal fight over team selection barely a month before the Games disrupted the team's training.
Early this year, national coach Igor Grinko promised to include Salchow, a Walnut Hills High grad, and her three teammates on the Olympic squad if they finished at least third in the World Cup in Switzerland; they finished third. Grinko reneged, resulting in an arbitration hearing before the United States Olympic Committee.
The USOC ruled in Salchow's favor, but attending the hearing cost the team two critical days of training. Had they lost the arbitration, they'd have had to race-off the team Grinko had named. That possibility further restricted their training for the Games.
All of which left Salchow bitter Sunday.
“The selection guidelines are set up to avoid a thing like this. I don't think it's admirable or respectable,” she said. “I've done a good job mentally, putting off this anger. Now that it's over, I can't. But I will tell my grandchildren I was proud of my performance in the Olympics.”
Greg Ruckman (third from left) and teammates rest after the lightweight four finished sixth.
(AP photo)
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Volpenhein faced a different sort of disappointment.
The U.S. men's eight, three-time world champions coming into the Olympics, were favored to medal here, possibly gold. Instead, the eights finished fifth, six seconds behind winning Great Britain.
Nothing clicked here for the eights. In the final, they tried switching their lineup for more speed. But they were fifth after 500 meters in the 2,000-meter race and never advanced.
“We thought we should have won, (but) we never moved on the other crews like we wanted to,” said Volpenhein, a Kings High grad.
Ruckman's lightweight four were in fourth place after 500 meters but faded quickly, finishing sixth in the six-team final.
“We went out very aggressively.” said the Wyoming High product. “We had to, to be competitive. But we weren't able to control it. We never settled into a good, powerful rhythm.”
Ruckman, a Princeton University graduate with a major in philosophy, may have summed up best the locals' experience here.
“If I had won here, I would have a two-word resume for the rest of my life: Olympic champion. There will always be a hole here,” he said, pointing to his chest. “Maybe in four years, I'll fill it.”
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