Rowing It Alone

摘要

The only way you'll be having an up-close-and-personal moment next month with Don Smith, America's lone and somewhat improbable entry in the Olympic men's sculling competition, is if all 120 or so members of the U.S. track-and-field team—as well as the gymnasts and the swimmers and the beach vol-leyballers—pull their hammies. Nike scolds us in its ads for paying attention to Mercedes-driving star runners just once every four years, but for elite rowers like Smith, most of whom live a post-collegiate, hand- to-mouth existence well into their 30s, being ignored by the sporting public is an everyday occurrence.