The place where I rowed and which inspires me the most in the sport is certainly Lucerne, Swiss. It is one of the most beautiful natural rowing courses on the planet, if not the most beautiful. This is where I became an OlympianIt’s a really special place for me. When we crossed the finish line first… that moment is indescribable, to think about all the work we put in, how long we dreamed about it. I’ve been rowing since I was 14, and so at 27, 13 years later, to cross the finish line first on this beautiful, legendary lake and know that you’ve just earned your spot at the Olympics was the best feeling in the world.
But I think my travel to thailand This was my favorite trip. In high school I went to Thailand with my family and Thai elephants are a big cultural part of nature. We were hiking in the mountains and I didn't know I had undiagnosed asthma at the time.
And there was one day when I was just hiking and my mom was like, “Well, what were you thinking?” And I was like, “I was thinking about elephants.” And elephants are so big, so heavy, but they can go really long distances. And they do it just by taking their time, taking it one step at a time, not rushing. And I was just like, if an elephant can do it, I can do it. And so a powerful phrase for me is, “channel your inner elephant.” My mom gave me an elephant necklace for the evil eye, so I think that trip to Thailand and struggling to keep up with my family, realizing that thinking about elephants helped me and being able to push through it—that lesson and that inspiration is definitely part of my fitness journey.
As soon as we arrive in ParisI'm in race mode. We're racing during the first week of the Games, so during that first week until I'm done racing, I'm focused all the time. Then I'm going to have about 11 days where I can enjoy Paris. So I often dream of spending days sitting in a cafe, watching people, buying French chocolate and tasting French cheese. I have friends who speak French and I'm lucky enough to have some of them come and see me, so I hope to visit Paris with them.
I like lavender and it will be during the lavender bloom, so I hope to travel to the south of France and see one of the lavender festivals. I've never been to the catacombs. I went to Paris when I was about five years old and I would love to go back and see all these cultural monuments and historical sites. I like that they incorporate French culture and history into the Games and that they have a lot of sites under control. Eiffel Tower or trainings in Versailles.
As an athlete, it’s really important to respect time zones. So I took a neuroscience class on sleep in college. I joke that I’m an Olympian because I sleep well. I’m so glad we’re going to Italy for our pre-camp. That way, if something were to go wrong with the time difference, we’d have about three weeks in Italy to fully adjust to the time before we leave for Paris. Having only a few days is really scary because if you mess up, your performance will show.
