Reactions from the qualified crews at the 2024 FOPQR

World Rowing

The final spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games were confirmed today on the Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland. Listen in to the reactions of athletes after a rainy - but happy day of racing.

Transcript

00:00 To be honest I don't really have it yet because it's so much work. I dedicate four years of

00:09 my life since my accident to this project. I put all the work in that, a lot of sacrifice

00:20 and I don't realize I tried to take the race as usual 200 meters, 200 or 1000 I don't know.

00:31 So it was robotic but at the end I knew it was right. I knew at the end I wanted to push

00:38 more and more and for my family, for the staff, for the people who support me since my accident

00:46 from the beginning. It feels amazing, like last year I got sick at the walls and we were

00:51 really confident last year. So this is just really amazing to be here once again and the

00:59 others are really good. So we were really excited about it but terrified anyway. But

01:07 it feels so good. Yeah it was a special moment to cross the finish line first. We wouldn't

01:14 have believed it had anybody told us before the weekend. But right now as we start to

01:21 realize I think it's a great feeling and we're looking forward to the coming challenges to

01:27 Paris. We'll give it our best even though we know we're in kind of an underdog role

01:37 as qualifying after the fact. Man I was just so focused on the race because it's been such

01:47 a long journey to get here. So really listen to Ima's calls. I'm sitting in between two

01:52 Olympic bronze medalists so I just had to trust they know what they're doing and it

01:56 feels amazing. Like all four of us have had a really crazy journey to get here so it just

02:02 feels like hard work really pays off. And to be fair anyone can do this if they work

02:08 hard. It's a pretty crazy thought. It's my first Olympics. For the other guys it's their

02:14 third so they're kind of used to it but it's something I will have to elaborate in the

02:20 next day or so. But I'm really excited. The boat is doing well all season long so I'm

02:28 ready for the big stage. We were really upset when Brazil beat us on the first 500 and the

02:41 next one kilometers we were upset but we found it strange. We found our strength to do a

02:53 fast finish and we did it. Amazing. It was just magic how to see the progress we can

03:03 do in the race. The pleasure to go together and the joy of the speed. It was free speed

03:16 all along the race so it was so so fun. I'm so happy for the result because we had a hard

03:22 winter to both. Winning here is just amazing. We really want to go to Paris. Now it's done

03:31 it's a lot of pressure but now we have the big step for the Olympics. You are very happy.

03:38 You go to the Paralympic Games in September. You are a new boat. This lake is formidable.

03:51 It's beautiful. The sun is not here but we are winning. We are happy. Thank you. I'm

04:01 really sorry. It's so hard speaking after the race. I'm really relieved because I was

04:11 so stressed yesterday and now I'm just glad that this whole stress event like the regatta

04:19 is done for us. Now I can't realize it. It's my first Olympics and I'm so excited. I can't

04:28 put it into words. This means so much to us. It's been one of the hardest 10 months of

04:33 our lives. It crushed us last year with the result not qualifying. It's surreal. It's

04:43 all fun now. We are fit. We are ready to go. We head back to America and get a couple more

04:49 weeks of training. We are ready to go for the Olympics. We just wanted to do our best

04:54 time that we could do. Conditions were not perfect but I'm at least super satisfied of

05:01 everything. How we started, the whole process, how we responded every single time to our

05:07 commands and we are really a team. I'm so happy. It's not even describable. I can't

05:15 describe it in words. It's just an incredible feeling. Absolutely. Every race we've done,

05:21 we've done so many visualizations of the same thing. It felt like the 100th time we've done

05:26 that race. You sit in the middle. You're okay. You're comfortable. You don't freak out. Then

05:31 you sell everything in that last half and never doubt what you can do. Every moment

05:36 was intentional and planned. We held our rhythm and it was great all the way to the end holding

05:42 that sprint and just knowing that we had the power and stamina to get all the way to the

05:45 end. I think it went pretty much as planned. We wanted to get out quick. I think we did.

05:51 I think we had the lead pretty early on. Then we just stayed where we were. Didn't do too

05:56 much for 750 meters. Then at the K, we had a slight move but stuck to the same rhythm.

06:02 Then we just tried to take up gradually towards the finish line, which we were able to do.

06:07 There were some good charges coming from the US and from Estonia especially, but we were

06:11 able to hold them off. We're very pleased with that. It's the first time we've been forced

06:14 to sprint. I think we did a pretty good job. It was a very, very good race. It was what

06:22 me and the coach established. It's a dream come true.

06:27 I don't know. I'm very happy. I don't understand what happened. I'm grateful. We go to Paris.

06:40 I have no words. I'm so happy. This is unbelievable. I'm so happy.

06:47 I think the race for lanes was our first race as a crew. We hit it hard and just kept going

06:53 and felt really good. It was just replicating that and not taking anything for granted,

06:58 knowing everyone had their back against the wall and only two boats could go. Just trying

07:01 to lead from the first stroke, not let up and stretch out the lead as far as we can.

07:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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