Joan Rivington of Old Lyme, Conn., had planned on being in Tokyo right now. Her son Liam Corrigan is competing in his first Olympics, in the men’s eight crew boat.
“We had the whole thing booked,” she said. “I mean, we had the flights, the tickets, the accommodation, everything. Actually, we had to book twice.”
They were supposed to go in 2020, before the Olympics were postponed to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So she booked it for 2021. And then spectators were banned — including Olympians’ families.
So those close to some local Olympic rowers did the next best thing: they gathered to watch the crew races on TV and cheer on the rowers together.
Chris Richards and Elizabeth Wilder Richards hosted a viewing party at their Watertown home Friday night, where they were joined by the families of seven rowers in this year’s Olympics. Their own son, Alexander, is also in the eight-man boat.
Chris Richards was his son’s high school rowing coach at the Belmont Hill School. He coached two other athletes there who are rowing in the Tokyo Olympics, too — Andrew Reed in the U.S. four boat, and Dara Alizadeh, who’s rowing a single scull for Bermuda — both of whom had family at the party.
“We’ve just been fortunate to have some really, really great guys who have decided to do the work necessary to take things not just to the next level, but to what really is the highest level of rowing,” he said.
This is the second Olympics for Austin Hack, whose father Greg remembers what it felt like being in Rio in 2016 as his son competed for the United States.
He remembered thinking: “‘This is unbelievable’ ... Look, I have goosebumps now just talking about it.”
It’s still amazing, he said, even if they can’t be there in person.
John Reed of Wayland, whose son Andrew was about to compete in his first Olympic race in the four-man boat, described the experience a little differently.
“Stressful,” he said. “Nervous.”
“You always want everything to work out well for your children,” said Andrew’s mom, Helen Hollingsworth. “And so it’s hard not to be a little bit anxious that it will be everything he wants it to be.”
As the men’s four race got underway, Reed’s parents stared intently at the TV, mentally pushing their son’s boat down the river.
The U.S. boat trailed the Australians early on, but really tightened things up towards the end. They ended up in second — qualifying them to go directly to the finals.
Reed’s mother said it’s hard to believe that was her boy up there on the screen.
“They looked beautiful,” she said. “What a relief.”
John Reed looked happy, but not quite relieved: The opening race nerves had just been replaced by finals nerves.
“The stakes are higher,” he said with a laugh.
Lisa Stone of Newton says she still gets nervous, even though she’s been here before. She rowed herself in Montreal in 1976, and her daughter Gevvie is in her third Games this year.
“I’m sad for these parents because it’s fun to be in the stands,” she said.
Some, like Michael Harrity of Weston, tried to see the bright side. His son Conor was competing in the men’s eight. When you’re at the race, he said, the boats just fly by.
“So we may have gotten a snapshot halfway through and know nothing about what was going on,” he said.
At least here, he had a good seat in front of the TV with an aerial view of his son’s boat.
Unlike the men’s four race earlier in the evening, only the first-place boat here gets to advance directly to the finals.
At first, it looked good. But the German boat pulled ahead, and the Americans couldn’t catch up. The U.S. boat came in second.
It was a disappointment, but dad and coach Chris Richards said he’s still impressed.
“I think it was a great race,” he said. “I mean, they ran toe-to-toe with the Germans who won the last three world championships.”
And they still have a shot at a medal. Depending on how they do in their next race — on Tuesday — they could still make it to the finals.
