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Blog Contributors
Ed Hewitt
Ed Hewitt is the publisher of row2k.com
Erik Dresser
Erik Dresser is row2k's Assistant Editor
Erin Cafaro
Olympic Champion Erin Cafaro rows bow seat in the US Olympic W8+
Esther Lofgren
Esther Lofgren rows 3 seat in the US Olympic W8+
Gevvie Stone
First-time Olympian Gevvie Stone is the USA W1x
Megan Kalmoe
Olympian Megan Kalmoe is the 3-seat of the USA W4x
Taylor Ritzel
Taylor Ritzel rows 4 seat in the US Olympic W8+
USA LM4-
Prendes, LaCava, Newell, and Fahden of the 2012 USA LM4-
Most Recent Posts by this Author
Olympic Final: Last One, Fast One!
posted by: Esther Lofgren (August 1, 2012)
click for full size image!

Racing the heat

First off--thank you for the tremendous support! We had our first race Sunday and the outpouring of good luck and go get 'ems that you sent to me and the women in the 8+ were so wonderful. It was awesome to go to the line knowing how many people we have pulling with us!

Our race was a good starting point for us--our first race together in this lineup. Some good things and lots to improve on. We lined up against Germany, Great Britain, and Australia at 11:50am, just after some brewing thunderclouds had us wondering if racing would be delayed. We were called into the blocks pretty early, so there was a lot of time to sit there, get acclimated to the noise of the camera overhead, the 20 or so photographers on the dock, the spectators shouting, and the huge buoys that mark the starting line and the boot. The boot is a huge plastic guard that keeps the bow aligned as the boats sit ready; when the starting beep sounds, there's a huge WHOOSH as the boots drop into the water and the boats surge off the line.

We had a solid start and were able to get out of the blocks and into our rhythm. The cheering of the fans on the shore built as we went--especially cheering for the home town boat in our heat! We were very internal and focused on executing our race plan. The conditions seem to be craziest in the middle thousand, but everyone in our event handled them well. As we reached the last 500, the grandstands surrounded us, lessening the wind a bit but also enclosing us with the thunder of thousands and thousands of spectators. It was literally deafening and so awesome!!!

Today, we watched the first round of USA crews line up and race for Olympic gold. Our women's quad pulled out an awesome bronze finish, the first time the USA has medaled in the event since 1984! I'm so stoked for these women--the rockstars we train with every day--Adrienne "Hammer" Martelli, Megan Kalmoe, Kara Kohler, and my roommate Natalie Dell!

Our women's pair had a heartbreaker of a fourth-place finish, just 0.2 seconds behind last year's World Champions New Zealand. Sarah Zelenka and Sara Hendershot have had an amazing year, building up to an incredible race that was literally stroke for stroke, surge for surge. Tough, gutsy, and so confident--we are so proud to have you representing the USA!

Similarly, our men's eight nearly caught Great Britain at the line, and finished just 0.3 seconds outside the medals. After earning the last spot here just two months ago, our guys performed so well, and did our country proud. Zach Vlahos, Brett Newlin, Jake Cornelius, Steve Kaspyrzyk, Giuseppe Lanzone, Will Miller, Ross James, Grant James, and David Banks, you are All-American all-stars.

Tomorrow, at 12:30, we'll line up against five other crews we've raced before: Australia, The Netherlands, Canada, Romania, and Great Britain. It's the Olympic final. But it's still 2,000m from start to finish, four 500m quarters to make the most of. I'm so excited to build off Team USA's momentum from today and leave everything I can possibly give out there on the water tomorrow.

It's been a long journey here, but now that we are about to race, I am thankful for every up and down along the way that has prepared me to give my best here in London. I know how much work (and good luck, too) went into being here, being the most physically, mentally, and technically prepared I've been in my career. I remember watching the Opening Ceremonies four years ago from a TV at my friend's house in Berkeley, excited to see what promised to be the most incredible Olympics yet, but so incredibly devastated at falling short of making it there.

The last four years have been a fight to be the best rower I can be, to push myself past what others and what I thought my limits were, to, if nothing else, make sure that I had used each day as best I could to never feel that feeling again. And I would never have been able to do those things without your support. The teammates who pushed me, trained with me, talked rowing with me, and who have become my best friends. The people who encouraged me, who believed in me, who helped me believe that the things I dreamed about weren't impossible. The people who housed me and fed me and who talked me through that tough practice or the ups and downs of selection or erg testing, even if you didn't know exactly what I was talking about.

So...thank you. Thank you so much for helping me get to the start line here in London, knowing that I am here in this boat with eight amazing women, that together we are ready to take on whomever we find ourselves lined up against. I am so proud to be representing my country, and I know that when we take that first stroke, we are each going to feel the hundreds of legs of everyone who has helped us get there pushing right with ours.

Thank you for giving us this opportunity. I am so excited to see what we can do with it tomorrow.

GO USA!

-Esther

Harder.Better.Faster.Stronger


Racing the heat - Click for full-size image!
W4x celebrating bronze - Click for full-size image!
W2- coming to the line the final - Click for full-size image!
M8+ Final - Click for full-size image!

Team USA Rowing at Dorney Lake
posted by: Esther Lofgren (July 23, 2012)
click for full size image!

We're still not sure what Wenlock is supposed to represent...

Wow...the past five days have really flown by. We're pretty settled in now to the Olympic Rowing Village, and the other countries have just started to arrive (for a while, it was just us, Belarus, Zimbabwe, Hong Kong, and a few others!) We're also into our normal training routine at Dorney Lake in Eton, which is the same fast course I remember from the World Championships in 2006!

Some things are slightly different, though, like the...interesting Olympic mascots at the 1,000m mark wearing GB unisuits!

But once we're on the water, it's just our normal training and racing and getting ready to have the best races of our lives! Taylor, my lovely pair partner, shows off the view from my seat!

Between practices, we've been grabbing meals at the course, which has great food and beautiful views of the finish line of the racing!

The Village also has a great training room for both us and the Olympic kayakers and canoeists, who will be racing the week after us. The pair and I got in some off-the-water training after getting to watch the awesome racing on the last day of the Tour de France!

That's all for now from us getting ready to race. We're dialed in on our race preparations and practicing, which doesn't make for the most exciting blog posts, but which does make for all of us getting to the line knowing how prepared and focused we are on the work we've come here to do.

Team USA is almost all here now--the men's four and quad will be here tomorrow--and it is really exciting to be here, all together, getting ready to represent our country for the big one! Can't wait. Go USA!

-Esther

Harder.Better.Faster.Stronger


We're still not sure what Wenlock is supposed to represent... - Click for full-size image!
The view from my office! - Click for full-size image!
Yummy refueling at the course between sessions. - Click for full-size image!
Erging with the Sara(h)s and some of the Aussie men at the Village gym! - Click for full-size image!
The race course, looking fast and almost ready! - Click for full-size image!

First 24: Ralph Lauren, the Rowing Village, and a Letter
posted by: Esther Lofgren (July 19, 2012)
click for full size image!

Susan & I modeling closing and opening ceremony kit!

Wow. The past 24 hours have already been amazing, and we've only just arrived in London! I'm about to shut my eyes after an action-packed but thoroughly awesome day that started in New Jersey and is ending here under my beautiful Olympic-sport comforter here at the Rowing Olympic Village.

We hopped on a red-eye at Newark last night, and before I got a great (if short) sleep, I met Saida, a huge fan of the Olympics and, hopefully, a future rower (I'm always recruiting!) Talking with her reminded me how huge our support is here in the USA, and it was neat to share my goals and journey with her just as I am starting this final step for all of our training with my team.

As soon as we landed, oodles of friendly and helpful London 2012 volunteers shuttled us to our accreditation, where we got the passes "our lives depend on". Then it was off to grab our luggage and head to the Rowing Olympic Village, one of the satellite Olympic Villages near to Dorney Lake. We'll be staying here through the end of racing, and it's a beautiful place to be living with Team USA and focusing on our job at hand: getting ready to have the best races of our lives!

Just minutes later, it was time to head into the city and get "processed". Even after hearing stories from the women in Athens and Beijing about this crazy building where awesome sponsors bedeck you with bags and boxes of gear and goodies, I was totally unprepared for how almost overwhelmingly amazing it was! We started at Ralph Lauren, where we were fitted for our Opening and Closing Ceremony kit. The video crew asked me to say a few words about the gear, and it was really neat to have the opportunity to say how elegant and athletic our whole team looked in the outfits.

Then we went through the other stations--our headshots, ring fittings (Hamilton Jewelers gives every Olympian a beautiful watch and ring!), Proctor & Gamble Welcome Kit pick-up (everything I could have possibly needed to pack--thank you!), and Oakley (so excited to race in my Olympic-Edition Miss Conducts!)

And then--the huge dressing room and what seemed like 8,000 things to try on from Nike and Ralph Lauren, each cooler than the next! Nike designed a whole slew of really sharp outfits, and I couldn't even wait until tomorrow to wear some of it to the dining hall tonight. Our team left looking great and ready to get out on the water and race!

We took a tiny tour of the major London sights on the way home--Westminister Abbey (sadly, no Princess Kate sighting!), the Gherkin building, the London Eye, the Tate, and many more. It will be great to explore the city more after racing--but first, it's time to race! So then home for dinner, posting this blog, and now, bed.

One of the other amazing things about today was a letter that was waiting for me when I got back to my room tonight. At our Olympic Ambassador training several months ago, we were asked to write a letter to ourselves, one that we'd open if we made it to the Olympics. I had completely forgotten about it, and opened the letter to find a huge reminder of the work that we've put in as a team over the last four years and the tons of support that are beaming over here from everyone we know in the USA. It was so moving and it really sunk in--this is it. I'm here. At the Olympics. Ready to have the best races of my life and find an entirely new gear to go to in our racing. I cannot wait! This has been unlike anything I've ever done before, and I've only been in the country for just over 12 hours. Just--amazing. I can't wait for what the next three weeks will bring! Go USA!

-Esther

Harder.Better.Faster.Stronger


Susan & I modeling closing and opening ceremony kit! - Click for full-size image!
Me and my rowing blankie! Home for the next two weeks... - Click for full-size image!
Yes--there is a lane just for us! - Click for full-size image!
Me and Saida, Team USA's #1 Fan! - Click for full-size image!
A small fraction of the tons of awesome gear we received today! (photo credit Sarah Zelenka) - Click for full-size image!