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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2013.55.1 B |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Don Arnold Interview |
Interview Summary / Résumé d'entrevue |
Don Arnold, Order of Sport recipient, inducted in 1957, born in Kelowna, British Columbia, is interviewed on two separate occasions and discusses his rowing career. In the first interview, Don describes returning to the Ballarat rowing venue for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Olympic Games. He recalls how the national rowing team could not attend the opening ceremony. Don explains how he grew up on a farm and played various sports as a youth but only began to row in university. Don talks about working with their coach, Frank Read. Don also describes receiving his PhD. Don explains how he met his teammates, Archie MacKinnon, Lorne Loomer and Walter d'Hondt. He describes the 1956 Olympic Games performance in Melbourne and the 1960 Olympic Games performance in Rome. Don shows and describes items important to him: a crew photo taken after breaking the world record, a photo of the crew taken after the Gold Medal in 1956, and then shows his Gold Medal. In the second interview, Don provides an overview of his rowing career. He describes how he began rowing in university and training out of Stanley Park, avoiding rip tides and sharing the water with yachts and boats. Don explains how his team trained and details how, in 1956, his underdog team won Silver at the National Championships and the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. Don summarizes what he and his teammates Walter, Lorne, and Archie did after they finished their rowing careers. Entrevue avec Don Arnold, 27 octobre et 13 décembre 2007. MP4 numérisé à partir d'une DVCAM 40 Advanced ME de Sony. Temps de visionnement de la première entrevue : 00:59:31. Temps de visionnement de la deuxième entrevue : 00:34:04. Don Arnold, récipiendaire de l'Ordre du sport, a été intronisé en 1957 et est né à Kelowna, en Colombie-Britannique. Au cours de deux entrevues, il parle de sa carrière d'aviron. Dans la première entrevue, Don raconte son expérience lorsqu'il est retourné au centre d'aviron Ballarat à l'occasion du 50e anniversaire des Jeux olympiques de 1956. Il se souvient que l'équipe nationale d'aviron n'avait pas pu participer aux cérémonies d'ouverture. Don explique qu'il a grandi sur une ferme et qu'il a pratiqué plusieurs sports pendant sa jeunesse, mais qu'il a seulement commencé à faire de l'aviron à l'université. Don parle de leur entraîneur, Frank Read. Don décrit également le moment où il a reçu son doctorat. Il explique comment il a rencontré ses coéquipiers, Archie MacKinnon, Lorne Loomer et Walter d'Hondt. Il décrit la performance de l'équipe aux Jeux olympiques de 1956 à Melbourne et aux Jeux olympiques de 1960 à Rome. Don présente des objets importants pour lui : une photo de l'équipe, prise juste après qu'elle a établi un nouveau record du monde, une photo de l'équipe, prise après avoir gagné la médaille d'or en 1956; ensuite, il montre sa médaille d'or. Dans la deuxième entrevue, Don donne un aperçu de sa carrière d'aviron. Il décrit comment il a commencé à pratiquer l'aviron à l'université et comment il s'entraînait depuis le parc Stanley, évitant les courants de retour et partageant les eaux avec les yachts et les bateaux. Don décrit comment son équipe s'entraînait et raconte en détail comment, en 1956, son équipe, alors qu'elle ne figurait pas parmi les favorites, a remporté la médaille d'argent aux Championnats nationaux et la médaille d'or aux Jeux olympiques de Melbourne en Australie. Don résume ce que lui et ses coéquipiers Walter, Lorne et Archie ont fait après que leur carrière d'aviron a pris fin. |
Scope & Content |
Don Arnold interview, 27 October and 13 December, 2007. Digitized MP4 from Sony 40 Advanced ME DVCAM. Interview 1 viewing time 00:59:31 and Interview 2 viewing time 00:34:04. 1 of 4 - 00:33Where were you recently; tell me a little about your trip? [went to Melbourne for the golden anniversary of the '56 Olympics. Don describes going to the rowing venue at Ballarat and the recreation of the Opening Ceremonies including the torchbearer, the lighting of the flame, the flag bearers and the athletes standing in the centre of the new stadium at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds 5:55Take me back 50 years -do you remember your mindset walking into the stadium? [the team was not at the Opening Ceremony, as they were competing elsewhere and had to reserve their energy. There was no TV coverage so they had to read about it in print] 6:55Where did you grow up and what kinds of things did you do recreationally? [grew up in the interior of BC on a farm; encouraged by his parents to play sports] 8:44[talks about going to University and deciding he needed exercise in order to feel better so he went to the gym and copied the routine of some other athletes; he and a friend were invited to come to the shell house - they understood this to mean gathering sea shells and found the Vancouver Rowing Club and saw the rowing shells for the first time & decided to give it a try] 10:38 (repeated on first part of tape 2)Did you get in the boat that day? [they started in barges to learn the technique and then gradually got into the shells and the difficulty in working with them] 2 of 4 - 3:24What attracted you to the sport? The spark that turned me onto the sport was quite a while after I had started. None the less, when we started to go out into the harbour, and it began to feel like a beautiful craft sailing through the water. It's like music. You can hear the shell crisping its way over the waves, and it was sort of a sensational thing that said I think this is neat and I want some more of it. 4:00Where did you get your toughness from? [discusses working on the farm and having to do the work because it just had to be done despite the pain] 5:48How did you hook up with Frank Read? [talks about rowing on the 8-man boat in the Junior Varsity] [on their first race] We were naive, green, frightened, all those perceptions of being imperfect, and we actually won the race and that was the turning point. We thought, this challenge is greater than ourselves. It was the biggest challenge that I ever had and I want more of it and all of us had the same attitude as most stayed for 4-5-6 years and were the nucleus for the '56 & '60 Olympics and the '58 Commonwealth Games. 5:79[talks about Frank Read, coach, who worked as a volunteer coach and had to be asked each year to continue] 11:06He [Frank] was a strong disciplinarian and his philosophy lived with us most of our lives. The skills, the dedication, the internal strength bolstered both of us on to fairly good life skills [he talks about what other team members did and his PhD and accords these achievements to the skills learned in the sport] 12:00What were the core philosophies that Frank Read emphasized? One emphasis was to challenge something greater than yourself and be successful at it and it will also contribute to your challenging life and make it a success - you will have a successful journey in life. 12:44And if you lose your haven't really lost, what you have done your are putting yourself into a situation where you have to actually assess your own motives, assess where you are at and get yourself ready to not drop off the edge but to grab the ball and move ahead and you will eventually conquer. 13:45You received a PhD, in what field? [outside of sport, in resource management and outdoor recreation, minor in Phys Ed] 14:30Tell me about your teammates, how did you meet and become a team? [teammates being referred to are Archie MacKinnon, Lorne Loomer and Walter d'Hondt] [the COA was sending the 8 team to the '56 Olympics and the team was already selected, he and the others were training at a 4, expecting 2 would be send as spares for the 8 team; they trained with the 8 team so they could get some coaching; they went to the Canadian Nationals and broke the world record; in Vancouver some business men pressured the COA to send the team] 19:42[talks about the races in Melbourne, as the stroke he was responsible for the strategy in the race, they missed their first stroke at the start and were behind, talks about the 10 and the strokes] 24:52We started last and came in first. We were mentally strong and conditioned from fighting an 8 that we were not prepared to give in no matter what happened short of passing out. Secondly, we had been able to captivate and execute skill, perfecting timing and boat sang over the water. 25:56[This was the first Gold medal in rowing for Canada] 26:25Who were the final boats that you took on? United States and England. 27:04When was the last time you were in a shell? [went in a double scull with his wife; mentions being a coach, official and development officer for rowing] 27:58The silver won in 1960, tell us about that. [Rome Olympics, discussed the training on the lake and heat, talks about the German team, the change in the boat design and the bio-mechanics] 3 of 4 00:19Where did you break the record that qualified you for Australia? Canadian Nationals in St. Catharines, Ontario 00:37Explain the Rome experience? [talks about the final and stroking, with the German team getting one stroke up on the Canadians and how difficult it was to catch up, explains the high stroke] 04:18How were you emotionally? We were disappointed [note: team won the Silver medal] but part of training is you still have compassion for the people who beat you. You have to go back and rework yourselves and your strategy and hopefully go back and meet them all over again. 5:38How did your competitive career wind down? [graduated University, then went back to grad school, did some coaching in 1975 and still doing some] 7:35You changed the orientation of rowing in this country, did this in fact happen? [discusses how main centre for rowing was in Ontario in the East and how BC becomes the centre in the West. Credits coach Read "You do the best that you can do in any situation in life as much as in sport"; talks about the Commonwealth Games in Wales and rowing the rough waters] 9:50What is your proudest moment in sport? Winning the first Gold medal in rowing. 11:14Photo of team - discusses who the team members were, photo taken after world record 12:17Photo of team - crew taken after winning the Gold medal in 1956 12:56Shows his Gold medal 14:47What did receiving the highest student award from Indiana mean to you? [This is the University where he received his PhD] My life has been an uphill struggle basically because at one time I had a speech impediment, so that I got into sport. I discovered that the things to be challenged, which were much greater than I, and that my speech impediment should not be something that would hold me back. I gained the confidence that I needed. 4 of 4 00:33Note: This video is largely a recap of the previous videos, done at a different time. What sports did you play as a child; how did you get involved in rowing? [talks about growing up on a farm in the interior of BC and never seeing the ocean until he went to University in Vancouver. 4:14You learned to row on the ocean; when was the first time you rowed on a lake or something more passive? [talks about rowing on the ocean and the challenge of the waves, the rip tide and the boat traffic and the challenge of riding in a shell] 5:30[talks about the first time on a lake was at the Canadian Nationals in St. Catharines when they set the world record, see video 2] 10:09How did you train for the Olympics? [discusses the training and living together as a team. Talks about riding the rip tide at the First Narrows and long hours and distances they rowed each day, every day was a new day] 17:35What do remember about the gold medal race in 1956? [talks about the Gold medal race, see video 2] 27:37Why can't rowers wear gloves to protect their hands from blisters? [discusses how the oar handle, which wasn't smooth then, fit into the calluses on their hands and that a glove would create a callus anyway.] |
Date |
2007/10/27 |
People |
Arnold, Don Loomer, Lorne D'Hondt, Walter MacKinnon, Archie Read, Frank |
Search Terms |
Don Arnold Rowing Olympic Games Rome Pan American Games Melbourne Cardiff Commonwealth Games 1956 Olympic Games Melbourne 1960 Olympic Games Rome 1958 Commonwealth Games |