Charlie Alterkruse is an Olympian in.. - Park Day School

Charlie Alterkruse is an Olympian in...
BY Noah Zachary Maier
“I just love being on or in the
water,” Charlie Altekruse persists. We’re
inside a car on a Saturday evening, the
sky is golden pink and we’re parked
right next to a basketball court with a
view to San Francisco. Charlie Altekruse
is a tall big man with big strong hands,
brownish eyes and light brown hair.
He’s 53 years old and is married to
Barbara Banks with two sons, Benjamin,
who’s 10, and Jeremy, who’s almost 4.
He likes to play sports with his children
and goes to lots of museums. He didn’t
exactly know what he wanted to be
when he was a kid but he kind of wanted
to work with different cultures, which he
does now and works with John Maier
(my dad.) Charlie played lots of sports
before his expertise; he told me that he
played basketball, baseball, football,
rugby, and soccer, and then he started
his expertise.
Charlie began rowing when he
was a freshman in high school when he
lived in Ireland. “I went to school in
Ireland and I was on these beautiful
lakes with golden trees
and amazing castles and it was
paradise,” he said slowing down his
words. He was lucky to be in a very
good high school that had an amazing
rowing team. After that he went to the
junior national rowing team and went to
a college that had a good rowing team.
After college he got lucky and made it to
the Olympics! “The first two Olympics I
didn’t get very lucky,” he said grinning
thoughtfully.
Charlie told me he was on the
Olympic team in 1980 but then the U.S.
government boycotted and wouldn’t
allow the team to go to the Moscow
Olympics that was part of the Soviet
Union in Russia.” I was lucky that I kept
on trying and four years later the
Olympics were in Los Angles. I was
supposed to go to the Olympics but at
the last minute I got sick and couldn’t
go,” Charlie says shaking his head sadly.
That was Charlie’s second time missing
the Olympics but then he remembered,
“Three times lucky.” Charlie stayed
around for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul
in Korea and finally went to the
Olympics. “It was wonderful and for just
the joy of walking into the stadium with
all these people and all the athletes and
colors it was sort of a victory lap,” he
said in a cheerful voice.
Charlie told me, picking up his
phone, that he thinks rowing is one of
the most difficult sports because you
have to use all your muscles in the body.
He says when he started rowing he had
to work out so much and he was sore
and his body ached but after a few years
he got better at it. Then after he was very
strong he could row really fast. “But in
rowing you never stop working out but
because every day before we started
rowing we would go into this big room
with lots of athletes and just work out,”
Charlie persists remembering back. Now
Charlie’s old so he doesn’t lift weights
anymore and when he rows he usually
just goes on rowing machines but not
always.
Charlie told me he’s done rowing
competitively now but every year he gets
with his 1980 Olympic team. “ I race in
the biggest race in the world called the

Head of The Charles,” he says joyfully.
He says there’s schoolboys to 90 year
olds who race. He says it’s not a
competitive race but just a fun race for
all years around. The race is very
colorful and it’s in autumn in Boston.
The sun’s almost down as
Charlie gets out of the car and runs to
the basketball court. Charlie’s a very
good rower which is obviously proven,
because he’s been in the Olympics. I
think he’s a very nice man and not one
of those super competitive men and he’s
also very thankful. He plans to just row
for fun, which I think, is a wonderful
idea.