Long and silent rowing rivalry ended by Kolbe

Press, 24 September 1988, Page 30

Long and silent rowing rivalry ended by Kolbe

NZPA-Reuter Seoul The veteran oarsmen Peter-Michael Kolbe and Pertti Karppinen have exchanged few words in more than 12 years of fierce rivalry for the top place in their sport. But when the ageing Finn’s domination of single sculling suffered a major reversal on Thursday, a few sentences of halting Norwegian helped ease the pain. Karpinnen, aged 35, chasing his fourth consecutive Olympic gold, crashed out of the single sculls when he finished last in a semifinal heat won by the four times world champion, Kolbe, of West Germany. The Finn’s reclusive manner and the lack of a common language have killed most conversations in the past. But as Karpinnen contemplated his future after the defeat, Kolbe dug deep into his weak Norwegian for words of consolation. “I managed to get a message over in Norwegian. I felt very sorry for him finishing last. It really does feel like a tearful goodbye,” said Kolbe, also 35. “It’s hard to stay at the top at our age. It could have been me finishing last,” he said. Karppinen has done

Kolbe few favours in the last decade. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics the Finn made a spectacular late spurt past him to snatch his first gold. Eight years later he repeated the feat to win at the Los Angeles Games. Kolbe has four world titles to his name to the Finn’s two but Seoul is his last chance to win Olympic gold. The West German believes he can do if but he knows, the event’s latest world champion, Thomas Lange, of East Germany, looks virtually unstoppable. The 24-year-old East German, who put his stamp on sculling when he won the world title in Copenhagen last year, cruised into today’s final by winning the other semi-final in a fast 6:58.65. “I’m going to have to go 120 per cent to win,” Kolbe said. Karppinen was too upset to talk to reporters after his race. The Finnish team coach, Henrik Degerth, blamed the defeat on problems which followed a period of training at altitude. But the Finn must surely now be thinking of retirement. “I’m not saying what he will do but in his place now I would retire,” said Kolbe.