Audio of Sam Stitt, USA M4x
Text transcript:
Sam Stitt: We did really well. So, you know, you take one guy out and you get out of rhythm.. uh..The thing was we practiced with Warren. Warren's a great athlete, uh, you know we had two practices with him. It went really well. Jamie came back, so you know, we're all really stoked.
row2k: Was Jamie at full strength today?
Sam Stitt: Yeah, oh man, that race was really just great.
row2k: Yeah.
Sam Stitt: Uh, it was really solid, felt like everything was there.
row2k: How did other things develop, was there any specific spot where you guys felt like you kind of reeled it in?
Sam Stitt: Yeah uh, I think we really just uh kind of had it out, got in our rhythm, towards the end, and just really started cranking on it. Probably around the thousand meter mark. We all agreed before just to keep it rolling, keep it going and everybody did a great job; you know, one hundred percent. Couldn't have asked for a better race.
row2k: Did you have any thoughts as you looked forward to this final?
Sam Stitt: Just try to do our best, you know? Uh, bring it! Get into it and do it.
row2k: Any changes in strategy or anything like this?
Sam Stitt: Um, not really, I mean, that race went really well for us. The Italians are a really good crew and the French are a really good crew.
row2k: Do you have another gear coming?
Sam Stitt: It's going to be the final day, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of adrenaline. It's gonna be our last race. It's the Olympics, you know, you bring everything, bring everything you've got. All right, see you guys later.
Audio of Anna Cummins and Portia McGee, USA W2-
Text Transcript:
Portia McGee: You know, you try to row for a medal, so it's always a disappointment not to make better use of our heat and our rep, but um, came out today and just went at the situation in front of us, which was the B final. Came out here to win that in the best fashion we could and send stroke seat Anna off to win a gold medal in the eight in two days.
Journalist: Oh, ok US Women's Pair: So we're proud of how we did.
Journalist: Good, good, excellent.
Portia McGee: Um, I'm going to go out to dinner with my family and my husband, then going to Beijing and see some of China and maybe see the Olympic Village. Just enjoy having made the Olympic team.
Journalist: Want to come back again in four years?
Portia McGee: um... No comment. Probably not, but you never say never.
row2k: Having missed by a hair four years ago, what were your feelings when you got here and started rowing down the course?
Portia McGee: It's pretty exciting, you know, uh, yeah it was, it was probably the highlight of my year was winning trials and making the Olympic team. Obviously I hoped there was a next step above that, but I was... um, that's why I came, you know to hope to go for that medal position and race for it at least and so um...But being on the team? It'll take a little bit of time just because it wasn't quite the outcome we'd hoped for, but I think in the end I never would have forgiven myself for not trying and not making it, so... I'm really proud of myself for sticking it out for four more years and getting this far.
row2k: You guys seemed really to turn it around from racing a couple of days ago, what did you do to bring that together?
Portia McGee: I think that was one of our biggest disappointments is we just feel like if we could...This could be an international race and then we could show up at the Olympics in about three weeks we would feel a little bit better, so... I think we were just a little, still just a little out of it, still learning a little too much coming into the heat and weren't quite refined as we needed to be. And so we used the chances here, you know, it's just maybe a too little, too late, but we got a lot better with every race and... Hey, it's always fun to race when you're winning and it's always a little easier, too, so you row a little better. So, that's what we did.
row2k: This was a nice race, too.
US Women's Pair: Thank you. Yeah, this was our best one. Finished it in style. Yeah, do you have anything else?
row2k: Well, what do your thoughts turn to now?
Anna Cummins: Nap Time. I think that Portia and I learned a lot from Pair Racing, but the wind and the starts and learning how everybody pulls out all the stops at the Olympics. In our team meetings we've been able to relay that back to the eight so, that eight has gotten a little bit of a hands on experience from our race. For one team going for one goal and rowing for that gold on Sunday. I think this really smart race today, ruined our race, our rhythm and came across a lot calmer and I think that really helped the eight. I think they've been doing that already, but we'll definitely try to bring that.
row2k: Good job guys.
US Women's Pair: Thanks.
Audio of David Banks and Paul Teti, USA M4-
Text transcript:
row2k: I guess all this, all this draw for the B Final is shaping up with three 2007 medals in it. Do you have any impressions of this?
Paul Teti: I think it's, it's kind of consistent with, you know with this field all summer long. Every race is like a final. It's like, I think?.I said to a bunch of the reporters coming into this you know, there were nine, nine crews, nine or ten crews coming into this regatta, I think, that were expecting to go home with a medal.
row2k: Yeah
Paul Teti: And I think they were all?. right! They were all accurate in expecting that. You know, you look even at the two semis or even from the heat to the rep to the semi, you know, it was different people winning every time. And the Czechs had to go through the rep and then they won the freakin' semi, you know, it's like it's just?.just feels really deep and really impressive and I think you gotta be up for every race, so.
row2k: How did you guys approaching racing in that kind of environment?
Paul Teti: You know, there's no settling. Basically, I think every race?..same when we race the World Cup, it's like you know, you've got to get off the line clean and hard, you gotta push really hard through the middle and then be prepared that every crew out here can drop at three or four splits in the last five hundred, regardless of speed for the first 1500. It's not a race where you can you know, shift out and relax. It's just?even the absolute top crews; maybe the Brits and the Ausies are a step ahead, but I mean, you know those guys are on forty strokes a minute all the way down the course. So, our race plan was really, you got to stick with the pack and if you feel yourself getting off, you got to go early.
row2k: As the new guy in the boat and on the team, racing in this kind of field, do you have any impressions of what was going on around you?
David Banks: Uh, I mean it's kind of what you'd expect it to be. I mean, like you said earlier you know, each race new coming in is gonna come down to da da da right at the line, you know. Three or four boats, and you know hopefully be on right side of it.
row2k: You got up to the line the first time in the heats, take a look across and did you feel rattled ,confident, in between, any?
David Banks: Of course you a little bit anxious. And it's a, obviously a different setting than, you know, than you're used to. But, um you know, to get here it's been a tough push, too. We raced against our own boats back home, so you know, put that in the back of your mind, you know. It's really not that much different. I'm kind of used to that all year.
row2k: Right. Do you get the Olympics as a lightweight or a heavyweight four? What's the difference besides, well?.
Paul Teti: It doesn't get any easier, I keep looking for an easier event. I can't seem to find one. No, um you know actually the lightweight four and heavyweight four, in my opinion, I think those are not necessarily?. All Olympic medals are hard to come by, but I think in terms of making the final, and just giving yourself the chance to win a medal. I think those are the two most difficult, competitive events, certainly on the sweep side. And so for me it's a little bit bitter sweet. I feel like, you know, I mean in a lot of these cases, The Kiwi's that's their top four guys, the Brits that's there top four guys. You know the Dutch, that's their top four guys, the Italians, that's their top four guys. The Czechs, that's their top for guys, you know, right down the list. So I think it's a little bit bitter sweet; it's nice to know that you know, you're going really hard against the best in the world. You know and that definitely the same on the lightweight side, too. I just?to be honest, of all my years on the team, this year has been the most fun I've ever had. I think that some of it was known that it's probably the end of the road. And some of it is these two guys are really fun to train with. My ending talk to them was you know, I want to be cheering them on for the next four years.
row2k: This is what I was thinking, Is this the beginning for you, not the end?
David Banks: Yeah, not yet. Definitely.
Paul Teti: He's twenty-five, I'm not letting him stop.
David Banks: I'm not stopping. It's intense, it's exciting and you know that coming in you want a little bit more of it, too you know.
row2k: Yeah.
David Banks: Especially when things kind of ending on the wrong side of it.
row2k: The past eighteen months for you has been pretty steep in terms of achievement, do you have any reflections on that now that this race is done?
David Banks: I feel very fortunate, you know, I mean without Paul like there from the beginning, you know probably none of this would be possible. All the other guys on the team, everybody's always?the last couple of years, everybody's been supportive. And you know you kind of draw on that, do what you can do and just hope for the best. Fortunately, things went?..
row2k: When you were paddling around in the Single last year, did you feel inside that you could get to this point?
David Banks: Yeah, yeah you always feel like you know you're gonna keep getting better and keep pushing. And whenever you first start rowing, I think for everybody you know you see results and put in time and get better. So, you obviously never know, you're just kind of hoping for the best and keep pushing.
row2k: Did you see yourself as a 20/12 guy?
David Banks: Uh, I kind of see myself day to day. Just day to day, and then it'll take care of itself, as it is now, so uh?
row2k: Well, it's pretty outrageous ending this thing with all of these boats in this race, so I know it can be fun, it's tough, but?.
Paul Teti: I know, I think our last two races, honestly, the last two pieces were probably our best two pieces we've had. Even including the World Cup races, you know. I was saying you know our semi-final, it's like we won the semi final, but we were nine-tenths from getting fourth and not making the final. You know, if we had been nine-tenths slower, surely there are plenty of places we could've screwed up. You know, we might not have been the four, we probably would have come back and had a much tougher time with selections, so?It's like, you know, even talking to the guys after, they're all great guys. The straight four, one thing I will say, is the heavyweight straight four, it's almost like a fraternity. I mean all these guys you know, we're all friends, even the Dutch.
row2k: I saw that over at the finish line, it was pretty obvious that everybody's?..
Paul Teti: Yeah, I mean we all talked afterwards, and everyone said good race and everyone?.Before hand, it wasn't like one of these aides go past each other and they don't even say hello. They don't say anything. You know, but here it's like we're all watching our quads race on the floor, laying on the mats together up there; all knowing that we're going to go really hard against each other in about 45 minutes. But, it's, you know, it's a fun, it's a really fun event to be in and I think ?you know?.it's a?it'll be little bit I think for us, for me, anyway, there will be some satisfaction to pull off a medal. You know that when we went into the eight, we're really competitive, so I think it's kind of a team effort. Someone had to race the four and someone had to race the eight.
row2k: All right, good job you guys.
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