had given permission for the French flag to be flown. It was one of the first victories of sport over politics. For tunately, there were to be many more such victories in the decades to come! An inspired idea was the setting aside of an area for schoolchildren. 4,000 boys and girls were installed in a special enclosure in front of the grandstands under the watchful eye of sappers stationed at ten metre intervals in the interests of safety. The potential oarsmen of the fu ture showed plenty of enthusiasm, applauding wildly at the end of each race. To avoid creating a wash, a launch was not used. The umpire, Louis Choisy of the Swiss federation, was there fore assisted by four officials, each one being responsi ble for a 500 metre section. The races 4 + : 4 entered 1. BEL 2. ITA 3. FRA 4. ALS-LOR An easy win for the Belgians. 2x: 5 entered 1. ITA 2. BEL 3. ALS-LOR 4. FRA 5. SUI From the halfway mark onwards, victory was assured for Sachini and Dones, the double from Milan. lx: 5 entered - 4 started 1. FRA 2. BEL 3. ITA 4. ALS-LOR - SUI (scra tched) The title-holder, Gaston Delaplane, won by six lengths. 2 +: 4 entered 1. BEL 2. ITA 3. ALS-LOR 4. SUI Another victory for Guillaume Visser and Urbain Mol- mans, from Ghent. France, whose pair were unable to at tend, was not allowed to substitute two crew members. 8 + : 3 entered 1. BEL 2. ITA 3. FRA After an impressive neck and neck tussle for the first 500 metres, the Belgians gained a clear lead over the French, who even had to yield the second place after a magnificent effort by the Italians. A banquet for 500 guests, seated at five long tables, end ed this memorable day. A happy atmosphere prevailed all evening. Much later, the guests dispersed into the night, some, perhaps those of more advanced years, to their beds, others, no doubt the younger ones, to trip the light fantastic in places hardy propitious to rowing train ing. As K. Rond said, “The nights are dark in Stras bourg, so I can tell no tales.” July 28th — 31st 1908 — London 4th Olympic games 1908 The rowing events of the Olympic Games took place in Henley-on-Thames, already famous for its annual regatta and its prestigious rowing club. The British Olympic As sociation entrusted the organisation of it to a committee 26 from the Amateur Rowing Association. The traditional course was lengthened to about 2,400 metres. Each country was allowed to enter two crews per event. Theo dore A. Cook, one of Britain’s most highly esteemed sportsmen, a journalist, the author of various works, on rowing in particular, and a future member of the IOC, was responsible for the time-keeping, inter aha! The races 4-: 7 entered - 4 started 1. GBR (Magdalen College, Oxford) 2. GBR (Leander Club) 3. CAN and NED 2-: 5 entered - 4 started 1. GBR (J.R.K.Fenning and G.L.Thomson) 2. GBR (G.E. Fairbairn and R Verdon) 3. GER and CAN lx: 11 entered 9 started 1. GBR (H.T. Blackstaffe (aged 40!) 2. GBR (A. McCullough) 8 +: 8 entered - 7 started 1. GBR (Leander Club) 2. BEL In the official report on the Games, the author stated, “This (was a ) magnificent struggle between two of the finest crews I ever saw together.” Pierre de Coubertin attended the finals and took part in the presentation ceremony, accompanied by Lord Des- borough, his colleague from the IOC, who was chairman of the organising committee, and, above all, a keen oarsman. August 29th and 30th 1908 — Lucerne 17th FISA congress Present: 13 delegates from 5 federations. Josef Roessler, from Prague, attended the congress as the delegate of the Czechoslovakian Rowing Federation. The congress was held in the portrait gallery of Lu cerne’s town hall. It began at 9pm and ended at about 1.15am on August 30th. Alphonse Loup, the president of the host federation, chaired the meeting, as was the custom. “The debate was frequendy acrimonious, and even slightiy aggres sive,” said the French delegate, Georges Flouest. The long discussions over the affiliation of the German feder ation were often delicate. The affiliation of the Czechoslovakian federation was postponed. FISA expressed regret at the differing ways in which competing federations had been treated during the regatta organised by the Olympic committee in 1908, and would investigate in due course how to avoid a recur rence of this.
