“The Star-Spangled Banner”

“The Star-Spangled Banner” appears twice in the celebration of the Washington crew’s Olympic victory, moving the moment from a simple return from competition to a formal ceremony of national recognition. The first performance accompanies the rowers’ arrival at the shell house; the second sounds as the American flag rises behind the medal podium, when Joe Rantz and his teammates struggle to contain their emotion.

After the Race

After climbing out of their shell, the boys stand at attention while a German band plays “The Star-Spangled Banner.” They then shake hands, lift the Husky Clipper onto their shoulders, and carry it back to the shell house. The anthem thus frames the immediate aftermath of victory: the crew is no longer racing, but still appears in its dirty sweatshirts and mismatched shorts, as if returning from an ordinary workout on Lake Washington.

The scene places a formal national tribute beside the crew’s unceremonious appearance. The boys’ achievement has become public, yet their journey back to the shell house remains bound to the familiar boat and the work of rowing. The performance marks the victory without dissolving that contrast.

At the Medal Ceremony

The anthem sounds again when the rowers receive their medals at the Reichssportfeld. After Olympic officials hang gold medals around their necks and place small laurel wreaths on their heads, Bobby Moch steps onto the highest platform. A potted oak sapling is handed to him, and the crew’s names appear on the stadium’s forty-three-foot-wide announcement board. As “The Star-Spangled Banner” begins, the American flag slowly ascends behind it.

Joe watches the flag rise with his hand over his heart and is surprised to find tears at the corners of his eyes. Moch chokes up on the podium, as does Stub McMillin; by the ceremony’s end, all the boys and even Al Ulbrickson are fighting back tears. The anthem’s second appearance therefore accompanies a distinct change in scale: the crew’s victory is presented not only as a race result but as a collective achievement before an international audience.

Recurrence and Significance

The two performances give the anthem a structural role in the account of the win. The first follows the race and leads into the boys’ return with their boat; the second accompanies the formal presentation of medals and the raising of the flag. Repeated at these successive thresholds, the song connects athletic accomplishment to public recognition while the narration keeps the response intimate and physical: a hand over a heart, tears, and voices choked with emotion.

The book’s index records the anthem at pages 353 and 354–55, corresponding to its appearances around the victory and medal ceremony. Its recurrence makes it a marker of both the crew’s arrival as Olympic champions and the moment that status becomes visible in the stadium.