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A review by jackwwang
The Amateurs: The Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal by David Halberstam
4.0
A captivating story about a small tribe of obsessive competitors. Halberstam (of journalistic fame with chops for hard hitting reporting on the Vietnam war) writes what seems to be a passion piece on this weird little tribe of mostly east coast ivy league graduates in whom a rare overlap of genetic blessings (mad VO2 max's), unmatched drive and competitive spirit, and a cultish purist ethic.
The striking thing about these world class rowers is that 1 - they are so dedicated to a sport that causes incredible amounts of pain at almost all instances of practice and racing. 2 - there are really no practice rewards to speak of for achieving excellence. Unlike basketball, baseball, of football where commercial success waits for the highest level athletes, the only near commercial reward for rowers is the hour of Olympic TV coverage should you make it to that level. And lastly these are people with great professional prospects after college choosing instead to pursue this masochistic activity, "One could understand the son of a ghetto family playing in the school yard for six hours a day hoping that basketball was a ticket out of the slum; it was harder to understand the son of Beacon Hill spending so much time and subjecting himself to so much pain to attain an honor that no one else even understood. Perhaps in our society the true madness in the search for excellence is left for the amateur."
What drives the book are masterful portraits of fascinating characters. The savant-like purist in a sport of purists Biglow, the towering stern coach figure of Harvard coach Harry Parker, the veteran front-running for the race to the single scull US Olympic seat Tiff Woods, who gives the word dedication such new concentrated meaning that I hesitate to use that word ever again.
Lastly, there are special moments of beauty that gives the layman a glimpse of what is so special about the sport... "When most oarsmen talked about their perfect moments in a boat, they referred not so much to winning a race but to the feel of the boat, all eight oars in the water together, the synchronization almost perfect. In moments like that, the boat seemed to lift right out of the water. Oarsmen called that the moment of swing..." Sounds like something worth dedicating one's self to.
Characters, Biglow, Parker, Tiff Woods
The striking thing about these world class rowers is that 1 - they are so dedicated to a sport that causes incredible amounts of pain at almost all instances of practice and racing. 2 - there are really no practice rewards to speak of for achieving excellence. Unlike basketball, baseball, of football where commercial success waits for the highest level athletes, the only near commercial reward for rowers is the hour of Olympic TV coverage should you make it to that level. And lastly these are people with great professional prospects after college choosing instead to pursue this masochistic activity, "One could understand the son of a ghetto family playing in the school yard for six hours a day hoping that basketball was a ticket out of the slum; it was harder to understand the son of Beacon Hill spending so much time and subjecting himself to so much pain to attain an honor that no one else even understood. Perhaps in our society the true madness in the search for excellence is left for the amateur."
What drives the book are masterful portraits of fascinating characters. The savant-like purist in a sport of purists Biglow, the towering stern coach figure of Harvard coach Harry Parker, the veteran front-running for the race to the single scull US Olympic seat Tiff Woods, who gives the word dedication such new concentrated meaning that I hesitate to use that word ever again.
Lastly, there are special moments of beauty that gives the layman a glimpse of what is so special about the sport... "When most oarsmen talked about their perfect moments in a boat, they referred not so much to winning a race but to the feel of the boat, all eight oars in the water together, the synchronization almost perfect. In moments like that, the boat seemed to lift right out of the water. Oarsmen called that the moment of swing..." Sounds like something worth dedicating one's self to.
Characters, Biglow, Parker, Tiff Woods