Seeing the Sights (and Baby Wallabies!!!) in Sydney!

USA women in Sydney!

Yesterday, we had an awesome Sydney adventure—in just a few hours, we managed to check off all of my non-racing-related to-dos for the trip! We (very briefly) walked through the 2000 Olympic Park, took a ferry through the Sydney Harbor and saw the Sydney Opera House, and stopped by a wild animal park on the way home and got to see some kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, and incredible birds, very up close!

The USA ladies visit the 2000 Sydney Olympic stadium!

After starting the day off with some solid racing pieces, we packed up into a small bus with some of our fellow racers from South Korea and Portugal and headed out to quickly see the sights! First stop was the 2000 Sydney Olympic Park and athlete village. Giant statues of the Olympic symbols--a runner and others--towered overhead, and we maneuvered around the dozens of columns in front of the athletic stadium, trying to find US teammate names!

Couldn't have picked a prettier day to cruise into Sydney!

Then it was back into the bus and off to a ferry that took us through the beautiful Sydney Harbor--lined with amazing houses, yacht and boat clubs, and natural and historical parks--right up to the Sydney Opera House and the Financial District/downtown! We got in a bit of sightseeing and souvenir-ing before it was time to take off again.

Baby wallaby!!!!!!!!

This time, we headed to a wild animal park, and we were SO EXCITED to get to see real Australian wildlife up close--REALLY close! As we got off the bus, a park guide handed me a swaddled up baby wallaby, which was about the cutest thing I'd ever seen. We also got to see kangaroos (with joeys!), kookaburras, echidnas, ghost bats, and everything Aussie in between.

Emus are startlingly large! But friendly, if slightly aggressive. I also saw the most brightly colored bird ever--wow! Thankfully, the animals were incredibly friendly. It was amazing to get to see so many awesome creatures up close!

Finally, it was time to head home--our friends from Portugal and South Korea had another training session, and we were all pretty wiped from the adventures! Many thanks to the Sydney International Rowing Regatta (SIRR) and World Rowing/Sydney Rowing World Cup organizing committees for planning this trip for us. What a great glimpse into Sydney and Australia, and an awesome chance to meet some of our fellow international racers, before we get into straight racing mode this week!

Power naps for everyone!

Thanks for following our journey, and Go USA!

The Race of My Life!

Photo: row2k.

  What do you say about the race where you won Olympic gold? It was the best race of my career, and we were lucky enough to have that on exactly the right day. I am so thankful I got to share the awesome races we had here with my teammates, and with everyone who came to watch us and who tuned in back home. So many people helped us get across that line, and it was so wonderful to know that we had won for much, much more than just ourselves.

100m to go. Redlining it.  Photo: Peter Mallory.

  I finally had a chance to watch the race for the first time when we got back to the US on the 13th, and everything looks much clearer than it felt. We executed the same strong first 500 that we had in our heat, and when we finally lengthened down to our base rate, we just moved on the field. Just like our heat, it was a little strange to be able to see the entire field, but this time, it didn't feel like a fluke--it felt like we were doing what we came to London to do. There was a strong cross wind that picked up in the middle 1000, but our boat and the rest of the crews handled the sometimes tricky conditions well.

  As we crossed through 750 to go, the roar of the crowd again got louder and louder. Even with the speakers turned to max, only stern pair could hear Mary for the last 500! But our experience and boat feel helped us execute the last 500 exactly as we'd trained to do. Canada made a last-minute push, but it wasn't enough. We kept rowing and rowing and finally...I saw the bubble line passing up near the stern. (No one heard the beep!) We were across the finish line! And WE'D WON THE OLYMPICS!

Can't feel my body, but WOW does this feel great. Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

  Immediately, I was overcome with emotion. The night before our race, and the morning of, I had thought back over everything I'd been through, and everything our team had been through, to be there, on that start line. A lot of training, sure, but also a lot of sacrifice, dedication, and above all, the support of the people who'd helped us become athletes who could win Olympic gold. Though I was beaming, the tears came, and I let them. Totally spent, I leaned forward and hugged Taylor, and then flopped back onto Susie. My girls. So, so proud of them and of what we had all accomplished together.

The best feeling--this WE won feeling. Photo: Getty Images.

  The rest of the post-race time is a bit of a blur. First to the media dock, where we were finally able to hug each other and share the moment with each other. Lots of interviews, lots of happy crying, lots of smiles. Then back to the boat to row to the medals dock.

Clear eyes, full hearts, strong legs, can't lose.  Photo: Getty Images.

  Wow. This is our Olympic podium. I could see my parents, my boyfriend, my brother, and way, way up in the very last row of the grandstand, yelling her head off, Liz O'Leary, my college coach. Susan punched me: "You HAVE to stop crying. You're ruining everyone's pictures!" We all held hands, waiting for the Dutch and the Canadians to receive their medals. And then: "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!"

Hey, guys...we did it.  Photo: row2k.

  Such an incredible feeling. Just the nine of us, standing there at the end of a very long journey and a lot of very hard work, getting to share the pure joy of that moment with the world.

Photo: Charlotte Chuter.