This happens every time. A bittersweet feeling. The Olympics are over. Sixteen days of inspiring, heartwarming, and heartbreaking moments. Once again, no matter the obstacles, the human drama of athletic competition transcended everything else. So, now what? How to keep the inspiration flowing? I have just the thing: rowing and climbing. What, doesn’t sound so exciting? Please read on.
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
This is the fascinating true story of nine young men from the University of Washington who overcome huge obstacles to win the rowing competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics. For these boys from working class families getting to college was an enormous challenge during the Depression. Then they had to beat their archrivals from the University of California, Berkeley (Olympic gold in 1928 and 1932) and then the well-heeled Ivy League teams and their rowing tradition and success. Lastly, defeating Hitler’s rowers in Berlin.
Brown covers all aspects of their journey and focuses on one rower (Joe Rantz) as representative of the team. The sacrifices they all make to prepare, train, and compete. The precision of making the boats, the technique and strategy of rowing, impacts of weather and wind, and the strength and stamina required, are all compelling features of the book. The history of rowing, too. To think that rowing was very popular in the 1930s. Millions listened to the races on the radio.
While Team USA was training on the lakes of Seattle, Hitler was planning a monumental Olympics to showcase Nazi ideals. Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda film, Olympia, encapsulated this world vision. The Huskies encountered challenges immediately upon arrival in Berlin. And on race day, they had to prevail over being in the worst lane, chosen by Hitler himself, subjecting them to the most headwind. PBS released a documentary in 2016 – American Experience: The Boys of ’36 – to celebrate the 80th anniversary. The doc includes archival footage from Berlin and modern scenes of rowing on Union Bay.
Even though we know the outcome, Daniel Brown keeps us on the edge of our seats. It’s suspenseful, engrossing, and inspiring. It’s a remarkable, relatively unknown story about the ultimate team sport. Do you hear a Hollywood feature film on the horizon? Yes, here comes George Clooney who has signed on with a MGM production to direct the saga on film. Until then, keep the Olympic spirit alive and read this book.
D ² Rating ◼◼◼◼☐
Free Solo
Climbing made its Olympic debut in Tokyo. This Oscar-winning documentary film is about the extreme style of climbing. There’s aid or technical climbing where hooks and ladders assist in scaling the rock wall. There’s free climbing where ropes and harnesses prevent falling, but do not provide any assistance up the face. Then there’s free solo. No hooks. No ropes. No harnesses. Just you.
So, let’s take free solo to El Capitan. The 3,200′ sheer granite wall that greets millions of visitors to Yosemite National Park at the Tunnel View Overlook. In this case of free solo, if you slip, you die. Free Solo is the extraordinary story of Alex Honnold, the 33-year old climber who free solos El Cap in 2017. The film chronicles his preparation, team support, and the unbelievable physical strength, dexterity, and concentration necessary to pull it off.
The visuals are stunning, vertigo-inducing, and jaw dropping. The film is directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. Chin is a world-renowned climber and cameraman. The camera crew face precarious situations while on El Cap filming the climb. They ruminate on whether they should even be filming this. They’re putting themselves in very dangerous situations. What if their presence on the wall distracts Alex at a particularly difficult stage of the climb? What if the whole filmmaking enterprise puts pressure on Alex to commit to the climb when he might not be physically or mentally ready? And the unimaginable, but ever- present possibility, that Alex falls to his death while they’re filming. It’s excruciating for them. They can’t even watch at times. And, you’ll also want to look away when Alex is stretched out like Spiderman on the tiniest of footholds and toeholds.
Alex gets a girlfriend while he’s preparing for the climb. It’s a big surprise for the film crew that no one saw coming. Sanni is super-cute, likes to climb, doesn’t seem to mind living in a van, and…is normal. Have I failed to mention that Alex is socially awkward, unemotional, odd, self-centered, and difficult to be in a relationship with? You’re not going to be an Average Joe if free soloing El Capitan is your dream. She brings a welcome human dimension to the story. Will her presence be a positive support for Alex, make him question the whole endeavor, or knock him off his game?
I was fortunate to see Free Solo on the big screen during its initial theater run. Then I watched it at home again so my wife could see it. You can watch it on Disney +, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix DVD and Blu-ray, but keep an eye out for special screenings in the theaters. Either way, this is a must-see. It is one of most incredible human accomplishments. Ever.
D² Rating ◼◼◼◼◩
Trivia ? – True or False: The USA did not earn any medals in climbing or rowing in Tokyo.
Answer: False. Nathaniel Coleman won silver in Men’s Combined Sport Climbing