LUCERNE, Switzerland - Jennifer Devine clocked a 7:43.09 to win the final of the women's single sculls and earn a berth to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, on Wednesday at the 2004 Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.
"I took a very atheistic view of my racing here," Devine said. "I thought this was sort of the means to the end; and if there was an afterlife after Lucerne, I was happy to participate in that. If this was it, I was comfortable with that and that's how I raced. That was my philosophy."
Devine, a Portland, Ore., native, led from wire-to-wire, defeating the Netherlands' Femke Dekker by 2.81 seconds. The University of Washington graduate got off the line quickly and led Dekker by 0.30 seconds at the 500-meter mark. She slowly built her lead over the rest of the field during the middle 1,000 meters, taking a 2.25-second advantage over Sweden's Frida Svensson with 500 meters to go. Dekker, who had dropped to fifth at the 1,500-meter mark, came back to finish second, while Svensson held on for third to earn the last Olympic qualifying berth.
For Devine, the victory gave her a return trip to the Olympics eight years after her first visit. In 1996, she raced in the women's double sculls.
"Turn on the mental VCR and just remember everything," said Devine about making her second Olympic team eight years later. "I think that there were things that I didn't make note of last time that I will pay better attention to this time. You know (the saying), youth is wasted on the young, well the Olympics is wasted on the young, too. I'm just going to focus on having a good time and just racing every race like it's the last race I'll ever have because it may be."
Yesterday at the qualifier, the U.S. earned Olympic berths in the lightweight men's double sculls and the men's quadruple sculls. The U.S. will now have 12 boats racing in Athens including the women's single sculls, men's double sculls, lightweight men's double sculls, lightweight women's double sculls, men's quadruple sculls, women's quadruple sculls, men's pair, women's pair, men's four, lightweight men's four, men's eight, and women's eight.
Quotes
Jennifer Devine, Women's Single Sculls .on whether or not she expected to win all of her races "No, no, no. I took a very atheistic view of my racing here. I thought this was sort of the means to the end; and if there was an afterlife after Lucerne, I was happy to participate in that. If this was it, I was comfortable with that and that's how I raced. That was my philosophy."
.on coming into the final as the favorite "It was scary. It was very scary. I've never really been in that position. I've never felt like I've been in that position, so it was a little surprising. I just decided that the thing that got me to that point was to do my own race and do my own raceplan, drawing on my strengths. I thought, well, that is really how I should do my last race and that's really what I did."
.on making it back to the Olympics after eight years "Turn on the mental VCR and just remember everything. I think that there were things that I didn't make note of last time that I will pay better attention to this time. You know (the saying), youth is wasted on the young, well the Olympics is wasted on the young, too. I'm just going to focus on having a good time and just racing every race like it's the last race I'll ever have because it may be."