Steve Coppola of Buffalo wins bronze medal in rowing
West Side rower thrilled with crew's finish
BEIJING — Buffalo’s Steve Coppola could feel the rowing community pulling for him back home, as if it were dragging the oars through the water along with him. And he could surely imagine the scene at the West Side Rowing Club as people gathered around to watch the big race.
“I’m sure there are people there right now,” Coppola said late Sunday afternoon at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. “I know they’re having a little party and they’re having, like, four parties throughout the day.”
They have a lot to celebrate. Coppola rowed in the U. S. men’s eight that won a bronze medal in the last event in the regatta, the most prestigious rowing event at the Games. He is believed to be the first West Side product ever to win a medal in an Olympics.
Just 20 minutes earlier, the U. S. women’s eight won a gold medal for the first time since 1984. The women’s team is coached by Tom Terhaar, another West Side alumnus and a graduate of St. Joe’s.
Coppola and his teammates were thrilled with bronze. At the start of the week, they had performed poorly in a heat, prompting a meeting in which the coaches and rowers told themselves they were capable of much more. They also decided to alter their strategy.
In the heat, they had gone out fast and run out of steam in the middle 1,000 meters. So in the second-chance race and the final, the Americans held back in the first 500 meters and then turned it on in the middle stage.
After the first 500 meters, the U. S. was sixth and last. But in the second 500, they moved into fourth. They had the best 500-meter splits in the second 1,000 meters of the race — 1:21.38 and 1:20.21. Still, it wasn’t enough to catch the favored Canadians, who atoned for their disappointing fifth place in Athens. Canada crossed in 5:23.89, 1.22 seconds clear of Great Britain, which beat the U. S. by .23 seconds for silver.
So the Americans failed to reclaim their title from 2004, when the eight won its first gold in 40 years. But they were proud and gratified, nonetheless.
The other members of the American eight were: Beau Hoopman (Sheboygan, Wis.), Matt Schnobrich (St. Paul, Minn.), Michah Boyd (St. Paul, Minn.), Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine), Daniel Walsh (Norwalk, Conn.), Josh Inman (Hillsboro, Ore.), Bryan Volpenhein (Cincinnati) and Marcus McElhenney (Philadelphia).
“We said before the race that if they were going to take the gold medal away from us today, they were going to have to pry it away,” said Coppola, a Canisius High graduate. “And we certainly made them earn it. I don’t think we can be upset with what we did.
“We were down at the start. But we stayed calm and composed and were able to push through. To come away with a bronze is a great feeling. We’re all happy with what we got, because we left everything out there. It just happened that Canada and GB were better today.”
Coppola was wearing his bronze medal around his neck as he spoke. I made sure to touch it. It occurred to me that I had never been this close to an Olympic medal. Aside from Christian Laettner on the original Dream Team, I had never covered a Buffalo athlete who won one.
I remembered other West Side rowers, and the crushing looks of disappointment when they fell short after years of dedication. I especially recall Jim Neil’s race in the four with coxswain in Barcelona, when he finished fourth. He was randomly selected for drug testing. I waited an hour for the grim duty of recording the local rower’s dismay.
So that was going through my mind when the men’s eight was last after 500 meters Sunday. Not another fourth place. I’ll admit, I was shamelessly pulling for Coppola. It was the better story, after all, and West Side had waited too long for a medal.
By chance, Coppola grew up on the same North Buffalo street as Neil — Depew Avenue. Neil also graduated from Canisius High and coached there. I had a feeling Neil and his family might be pleased.
“He’s always got a smile when we talk,” Coppola said. “I love talking to Jim. We’ve shared the same experiences and have that common bond. I’m happy for every single person down at West Side who watched it.”
Coppola, the youngest man in the U. S. men’s eight at 24, said he expects to return for the London Olympics in 2012. I asked if his Olympic experience had been everything he imagined it would be.
“Oh, it’s been everything and more so far,” he said. “All the notes I’ve gotten from people back home, all the family and friends who have gotten in touch with me. It’s been an incredible experience. I don’t think I’m ready to trade it in for an office job any time soon.”
