A crazy twist while in Canada
The Beatles, the blazer and not even getting to the USSR...let alone back to it
It’s actually ridiculous.
It’s a blazing Saturday just before midday and I’m walking around in a black New Zealand blazer from the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The lining on the inside of one pocket is melted. There’s some good coagulated detritus in the other and the seam around the collar has been torn. Lord knows what this thing has been through. I think I can guess.
I got talking to a guy wearing a Ridley College Rowing tracksuit by the name of Nick Holmes. He coached at Ridley with the great Neil Campbell.
He rowed at the first World Championships to be held in Lucerne in 1974. Harry Mahon was his coach.
They were going pretty fast before disaster struck.
“Just before the race, there's a windstorm and the boat blew off the rack,” says Neil. “We had to grab this other boat. It might as well have been a picnic table with riggers on it. That kind of cooked us.”
That was his one and only world champs although he was with the Canada eight at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when Neil and his crew beat the States by the narrowest margin for gold. Harry’s New Zealand Eight, which I was part of, came fourth.
Nick owns a condo across the street from the Craig Swayze Memorial Grandstand. His office is a mini rowing museum: pics of his Lucerne four with coach Harry; all the Ridley crews he’s coached; a photo of the late Beatle George Harrison.
“He lived up at Henley-on-Thames. I met his brother Peter,” says Nick. “So guess what happened? A couple of months later, when I got back to Ridley, in the mail there’s a huge box of sweatshirts all signed by George Harrison.
There was a signed photo and a note from the Beatle himself.
“He spelt it to, ‘Nick, Ridley College’. He spelt college C-O-L-L-E-D-G-E! He’s my favourite.”
The Beatles sung about being back in the USSR.
This blazer never made it Moscow.
“The boycott of the Olympics, 1980. The Kiwis are here, West Germany’s here, the Americans are here. So we had an alternate competition here. We had a little regatta, then we had a big party.”
“I knew all your guys, says Nick. “They said, ‘Hey, why don't you use the jacket? We're not going to the Olympics, you take it.’”
And so it ended up with Nick Holmes, and has been hanging in his wardrobe for 44 years.
He wanted me to take it.
So, if you can tell me how the heck you burned the inside of the pocket, just about ripped the collar off, and if the label inside reading FOUR 4950 means anything to you, you can have it back.
But I’m gonna need the full story too.
Nick Holmes and Andy Hay with the mystery blazer from one of the Moscow Olympic rowers.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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A crazy twist while in Canada
The Beatles, the blazer and not even getting to the USSR...let alone back to it
It’s actually ridiculous.
It’s a blazing Saturday just before midday and I’m walking around in a black New Zealand blazer from the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
The lining on the inside of one pocket is melted. There’s some good coagulated detritus in the other and the seam around the collar has been torn. Lord knows what this thing has been through. I think I can guess.
I got talking to a guy wearing a Ridley College Rowing tracksuit by the name of Nick Holmes. He coached at Ridley with the great Neil Campbell.
He rowed at the first World Championships to be held in Lucerne in 1974. Harry Mahon was his coach.
They were going pretty fast before disaster struck.
“Just before the race, there's a windstorm and the boat blew off the rack,” says Neil. “We had to grab this other boat. It might as well have been a picnic table with riggers on it. That kind of cooked us.”
That was his one and only world champs although he was with the Canada eight at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, when Neil and his crew beat the States by the narrowest margin for gold. Harry’s New Zealand Eight, which I was part of, came fourth.
Nick owns a condo across the street from the Craig Swayze Memorial Grandstand. His office is a mini rowing museum: pics of his Lucerne four with coach Harry; all the Ridley crews he’s coached; a photo of the late Beatle George Harrison.
“He lived up at Henley-on-Thames. I met his brother Peter,” says Nick. “So guess what happened? A couple of months later, when I got back to Ridley, in the mail there’s a huge box of sweatshirts all signed by George Harrison.
There was a signed photo and a note from the Beatle himself.
“He spelt it to, ‘Nick, Ridley College’. He spelt college C-O-L-L-E-D-G-E! He’s my favourite.”
The Beatles sung about being back in the USSR.
This blazer never made it Moscow.
“The boycott of the Olympics, 1980. The Kiwis are here, West Germany’s here, the Americans are here. So we had an alternate competition here. We had a little regatta, then we had a big party.”
“I knew all your guys, says Nick. “They said, ‘Hey, why don't you use the jacket? We're not going to the Olympics, you take it.’”
And so it ended up with Nick Holmes, and has been hanging in his wardrobe for 44 years.
He wanted me to take it.
So, if you can tell me how the heck you burned the inside of the pocket, just about ripped the collar off, and if the label inside reading FOUR 4950 means anything to you, you can have it back.
But I’m gonna need the full story too.
Nick Holmes and Andy Hay with the mystery blazer from one of the Moscow Olympic rowers.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
