Friday July 6 - the 200m
This is your race, coach told us. This is what we've been training for. We've done this back-to-back-to-back in practice. You can do this. Go get it!
We walked into the marshaling area confident, but not cocky. Cocky can mean the tiniest difference between a win and an almost win (which is, simply, a big fat loss). Cocky is no good. But confident - that's critical. We have the muscle. We have the endurance. We have to have the mind too.
In the first heat, we screamed down the course in 53.788 seconds. Pretty dang astounding considering the waves, the current, the crooked course, the lanes that narrowed and widened indiscriminately, and the fact that nobody could really tell where exactly the finish line actually was. No matter. We crossed that line, wherever it was, first. We were elated!
Then our captain spoke.
"We've won NOTHING yet ladies. We have two more races to go. Enjoy this, but realize nothing is decided yet."
Right. Knock it off. Forget it. Focus on the next heat. We circled back to the docks, brought in our boat, disembarked, went to huddle with our coach and get our instructions. Then it was right back to marshaling for heat #2.
Times were a little slower for all teams in this second heat, the wind and waves had picked up some, but we still managed to pull off the start and over the finish line ahead of the others. 54.665 was enough to give us a solid shot for the gold. It would all be up to the last race.
We did the little dance again - bring it back to the docks, disembark, analysis and pep talk, marshal, into the boat, out to the start line practicing our first 5, then 10 then 15 strokes on the way. Then it was time to go. This was it, the deciding race. More waves, more wind... heh, bring it on we all said!
I'll cut straight to the point. (Mostly because I don't really remember the race, other than it felt &$(%(!!! amazing. So strong, so powerful, so connected. We gave it EVERYTHING. That boat fair flew as far as I was concerned. And the clock confirmed it. 56.837. First again. Would it be enough for the gold?? It seemed like we waited for the official results to come out for hours. And then, suddenly, quietly, they were there. Gold. Gold. Gold. HOLY MOTHER WE HAD TAKEN THE GOLD!! I got goosebumps all over my body and cried like a baby.
When we got to the podium, and saw who would be presenting us with our medals - the tears started to flow in earnest. From the whole team. It was N - husband, now widower, of our dear departed matriarch, S. We'd lost her just before this trip, and it was so very fitting, and so incredibly special, that he be the one to place these beautiful medals around our necks.
The teams on the podium with us thought we were an incredibly emotional bunch of girls. "Wow, is this such a surprise?" we were asked. "Did you not think you could win?" "No no, it's not that," we explained. And when we told them the story, they were all crying too. These were tears of joy, of sadness, of loss, of sympathy, of empathy, of gratitude, of victory. Oh sweet victory!
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| Golden, world-championship smiles! Holy crap - we did it! Photo: Eric Bindman |
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