Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/697572
JULY / AUGUST 2016 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | 29 PAUL GUNDERSON W hen Paul Gunderson graduated from Enumclaw High School in 1961, the town claimed just 3,300 residents. Paul was salutatorian of his class and went on to row for Harvard. Three years later, the Crimson four-oar with coxswain represented the U.S. in the Olympics. That October, Paul traveled to Tokyo. He was 20 years old. "It was just wonderful," he recalls. "You could go anywhere in Tokyo, and as an Olympian you had access to all the events. We were done competing in about five days, so the rest of the time we just enjoyed the Olympics." Held in October to dodge the summer heat, the '64 Games featured the first live color broadcast of the opening and closing ceremonies. It was also the first time the Games took place in Asia. Paul and the other Olympians stayed in the middle of the city. The rowing events took place about 15 miles away along the Arakawa River. Paul sat in the bow of the U.S. boat. Although the team didn't medal, Paul looks back on his Olympic experience with fondness. "It was beautiful," he says. "Having big crowds cheering for us was kind of unusual. We usually rowed on the Charles River— and there was nobody out there!" When he watches the Olympics this year, he knows he won't see his old event. The four with coxswain was dropped following the 1992 Games. "No more hauling around all that deadweight," he says with a laugh. After the '64 Games, Paul returned to Harvard for his medical degree. He later served as a surgeon in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, at the end of the Vietnam War. He eventually moved back to Enumclaw and spent three decades as a general surgeon in the town of his youth. In his shop on the outskirts of town, he still keeps a single scull in the rafters. It was just wonderful. You could go anywhere in Tokyo, and as an Olympian you had access to all the events." Rowing 1964 | Paul Gunderson, center, and members of the rowing team at the 1964 Tokyo Games. >> Return to Tokyo The summer Olympics will return to Tokyo in 2020. Visit tokyo2020.jp/en " Paul Gunderson, second from right, with friends from Pocock Rowing Center on Lake Union.