Tracy Eisser and Megan Kalmoe placed fourth in the B final today to take 10th overall. We talk to the pair about committing to the pair, issues of fairness in their event, and retiring (or maybe not)...
row2k: When we talked only a little over a month ago, you had committed to the pair very strongly. How do you reflect back now that you've gone through the whole process right to this moment?
Tracy Eisser: I think I feel the same as I did then.
Megan Kalmoe: I'm glad we did it. I don't regret choosing to do this and go to the Games in the pair with Tracy at all. I'm happy that we're here. It was a huge honor to race against such an incredible, very deep, very competitive field of athletes where every single person in every single boat is so good. None of the talent gets diluted, all of the performances are you and your partner, and that is it.
We didn't maybe get the result that we would have liked. Obviously, you want to come here, and you want to win, but I think with everything that we've gone through this year and last year, we did absolutely the best that we could to come here and have a regatta where we were learning something every single race and developing as a crew and as people. I'm not unhappy with our experience here.
Eisser: I think we said six weeks ago to you that we know this is going to be hard, and that there is no guarantee of success, and we were right (laughs)! It was very hard. But all of the ways in which I've been challenged and have had to grow and adapt and learn, I wouldn't trade it.
row2k: Over in the boatyard, you were watching the A final, which was very intense, and which would only reinforce what you're saying. Did you have any thoughts while you were watching that you would want to share?
Kalmoe: Well, I just posted on Twitter a couple of things that I'm sure some people will be upset about - or maybe they won't - but I think a lot of people in this field are very, very classy women who are probably a little bit too polite to say some of the stuff that I'm willing to say, especially because I wasn't in the A-final, and also because Russia beat us by enough places in our qualifier that they didn't take a spot from us, but having them here and having them walk away with one of the medals was really hard for me to watch. I don't think that they should have been here, and there are a lot of women here that I think were very qualified to win one of those medals, and them not having that opportunity because that boat was here was very problematic for me as a competitor.
The conditions here, I would have loved to experience the other side of the course for at least one of my races. We drew Lane 1 or Lane 2 for all of our races, which was very consistent for us, but also very tough to see the outcomes of our races really play out very similarly all four times, and seeing crews on this close side of the course just get slingshot past us in the middle of the race, with nothing for us to do about it.
Watching the final, I was very, very impressed with Canada and GB being able to hang on to lead positions from one of those far outside lanes. Doing that is incredibly impressive, and really speaks to them as athletes and as competitors, because it's pretty wild watching the way things have unfolded in every single race that I've been in from the far side of the course versus the near side.
It's been pretty consistent. I've literally watched every single race - four times in a row, in fact. I'm happy to go out as the troublemaking, mug-breaking, impolite, whatever you want to call it. I have a lot of respect for other women in the event who maybe aren't willing to say some of that stuff, because like I said, they're all very, very classy women. Maybe I'm not classy, but I am very honest, and that is my experience at this regatta.
row2k: Tracy, do you want to add to this?
Eisser: I think that Kalmoe has summed up our opinions quite precisely. I agree that it might have been nice to race in Lane 5 or 6, just to see. Maybe it wouldn't have been different, but there's no way for us to know. We will never know, and that is fine, but I am curious.
row2k: Backing up from results, Megan says she's willing to say things that not everyone will say...
Eisser: What's it like to row with the team troublemaker?
row2k: With the troublemaker - that's exactly it.
Eisser: We've known each other a long time, and in any partnership, in order for it to work, you accept people for who they are. I know that she is not a person to keep her mouth shut or keep her opinions to herself, but it's something that I respect about her, because I think there are a lot of people who have these thoughts, but they don't want to say things - not just on this, but on a lot of subjects - because they don't want to upset people or cause any trouble.
But being able to be honest and maybe a little bit blunt, and stick up for what she thinks is right is something that Kalmoe does really well. Not to be afraid of what people think, or to make herself smaller is something that I admire.
Kalmoe: Everyone comes here to have a really good experience, and these are two things that I feel like could possibly diminish other athletes' experiences. It's important that when you come to the Games, you feel that you have the best opportunity to do the best that you can.
row2k: Megan, you have been at four Olympics; now as you're going to walk off the grounds here, how do you think back on that.
Kalmoe: I'm going to be honest with you, the experience that I've had over the past two months has made me want to continue to row. I don't know whether or not that's going to happen. Sorry if my boyfriend is hearing about this way instead of having a conversation about it first.
I don't know if I'm going to keep rowing when I get home. Some of the shine might wear off and I might just feel very tired, but getting back in the pair, and working with Kate Bertko, and coming here and racing all these women, and being pushed this way, and just having this experience that was so much more uplifting than Rio... You know, Tracy and I have worked on a lot of stuff together - in the boat, out of the boat - in order to have a really good experience here, and I feel like we've been so much happier, so much healthier as athletes and as humans over the past few months, that it feels great again.
Rowing and training and racing has been so much more fun for me over the past couple of weeks than it has been over the past entire quadrennial..
Eisser: It's really nice to have fun again.
Kalmoe: It is really nice to have fun again. I guess it's also made me realize that I've been kind of unhappy training for a while, but was just really, really trying to make it work and make it feel like it used to, and it hasn't for a long time. Working together, the three of us, has been really just very game-changing for me.
Like I said, I'm not saying that I'm coming back, but it has made it seem more like a real thing that I'm open to it as opposed to a couple of months ago where I was like, "I am f'ing out of here. I'm not going to the Head of the Charles, and I'm not doing any alumni events, and I hate everybody, and I'm gone." But now I'm just kind of much happier and relaxed.
Interviewer: What's the biggest lifestyle change you've had to give up?
Kalmoe: Being apart from my partner and my family - not getting to see any of my family for years at a time. I have nieces and nephews that have been born over the past couple of years that I haven't even met yet. They're toddlers, and I haven't met them because I haven't had a chance to get away. And then, with COVID, it wasn't smart to travel and see family.
Interviewer: How far are you based from them?
Kalmoe: I have been training either in California or New Jersey, and they (family) are kind of all over. My family is in the Midwest - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Fargo, Arizona. My boyfriend is in San Diego, so I'm really only able to see him a tiny fraction of this past year.
row2k: When you decided to come back, what tipped the balance versus all those other things you have to give up?
Kalmoe: Whether or not you're enjoying it and whether or not you're fast. I don't know that this regatta showed what we're capable of. We had such a short time to prepare, and we wasted a lot of time - that's on us - we've talked about that a lot. We could have gotten back in the pair a lot earlier, and that was our choice not to do that. Bu if you're enjoying it, I don't know why you wouldn't be doing it. If this is what you love to do, then you should do it.
row2k (to Eisser): Are you retired?
Eisser: That was my plan! It's hard. It's really hard.
Kalmoe: This is just really awesome.
Eisser: No matter what, I need a little bit of time. For me, it's been basically since I graduated from college, just nine years, go, go, go. Be in Princeton, which, okay, I'm from New Jersey, so I feel very fortunate in that I get to see my family much more than just about anyone else at the training center, which is wonderful. But in terms of feeling like I've had to say no to things that I wish I could have said yes to, or just having more agency over my own life, I'm interested in doing that for a little while, so we'll see.
I would also just like to say, since Kalmoe brought it up, that working with Kate (Bertko) has been great. We called her in May as she was driving a trailer through LA traffic and was like, "Hey!" I hardly knew her at all. You've known here a while, but you haven't really seen her in the last five years.
Kalmoe: No, not since Rio.
Eisser: We just said "Hey! Do you want to be our coach for the Olympics in the pair?" and she said "Yeah, okay!" She has been so positive and encouraging, and I'm very grateful.
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