Tomorrow! The wait is almost over, America!
We are so excited that the Olympic Games start tomorrow with the Opening Ceremonies; then on Saturday morning, July 28, the racing starts. Let the Games begin!
One Team…One Goal…Gotta Want It
If you follow our athletes on social media, you know this is what they live by. Our 44 Olympians and five alternates are a spirited group, each with two eyes firmly on the prize. We have every confidence that they will achieve their goals and give us amazing racing to watch and cheer. We are excited to be in London with the athletes, their families, alumni of the U.S. Olympic and National Team networks, and friends of rowing.
For the past six months, the USRowing community has been behind our athletes, supporting them through the Row to London campaign – hosting local events, wearing Row to London shirts, displaying stickers, sending messages, and supporting through fundraising. Thank you!
Our Row to London campaign is going strong with many events still scheduled to take place. What are you or your rowing team/club doing to celebrate our team competing in London? Let us know on the Row to London Facebook group, and we will share the best with the rowing world.
We are getting close to our goal of raising $125,000 – all of which goes to support our Olympic team. We are so lucky to have 900 fans and 30 teams who have donated almost $113,000! Will you consider helping our athletes with a donation of $10 or $25 towards our amazing team? As an added incentive, we will do a drawing for USRowing team gear – the same that is being worn by our athletes in London – for anyone who donates from July 27-August 12 during the Games.
https://natrowing.donorpages.com/RowtoLondon
A special thank you from our athletes! We are so lucky to have such an amazing rowing community!
Messages to the Athletes
The athletes love and appreciate all the messages you are sending via Twitter and Facebook. Please keep them coming.
As an added incentive, we will be sending out Row to London t-shirts to some fans who send the most creative messages during the Games. So, send photos, fun messages and creative tweets, and we will put you in the drawing to win. Go USA!
Athletes
We have 12 boats competing in the Olympics this summer. We have the men and women’s single sculls, pairs, quads and eights. We also have a women’s lightweight double sculls, women’s double sculls, men’s lightweight four and men’s four.
Want to learn more about athletes from the women’s pair, men’s quad or the defending Olympic champion women’s eight. Click here for USRowing’s athlete bios to learn more about your favorite athletes!
Schedule
The Olympics begin on July 27 and run until August 12.
Rowing begins on July 28, when eight of our 12 boats will compete in their first qualifying races. The schedule and results can be found here: https://www.london2012.com/rowing/schedule-and-results/
To be linked directly to NBC’s coverage, head to NBCOlympics.com, which will keep you in the loop during the entire Olympics. From there, you also can link to NBC’s streaming page where you can watch and re-watch all of the races!
Watch Olympic Rowing Live!
2. Click on live video section: https://www.nbcolympics.com/liveextra/help/index.html
3. Register under your TV provider with your login
4. Watch 3,500 hours of Olympics including rowing, beginning Saturday morning at 4:25 a.m. EDT.
5. Schedule of streaming video is here: https://www.nbcolympics.com/online-listings/sport=rowing/index.html
We expect that some racing will be broadcast live on television, but this depends on U.S. involvement and often that decision is not made until the day before or on the day of racing. You can keep track of the NBC sport-by-sport and daily broadcast schedules at https://www.nbcolympics.com/tv-listings/index.html.
Rowing in the News!
Our athletes are getting the recognition they deserve and have been featured in some pretty awesome articles lately in the lead up to the Games. Most are posted on Facebook and Twitter. Along with many hometown newspapers, publications like TIME Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fitness, Self, Forbes, Fortune and Men’s Health, as well as television outlets such as CNN and The Today Show, have all run national pieces featuring members of our Olympic team. Check out the links below:
SI.com on the James twins: https://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/2012/07/04/Grant-Ross-James-Olympic-rowers.ap/index.html?section=si_latest
Fitness Magazine giving Esther Lofgren a focus:https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/blogs/fitstop/2012/07/09/fitness/3-tips-to-row-row-row-your-way-to-your-best-body-yet/
Self Magazine showing the fitness levels of Caryn Davies and Susan Francia:https://www.self.com/fitness/2012/07/olympic-hopefuls-slideshow#slide=12
Men’s Health Magazine’s interview with Giuseppe Lanzone and Glenn Ochal:https://www.menshealth.com/olympics/gold-medal-secrets-stamina
Forbes Magazine’s focus on David Banks: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2012/07/24/the-cost-of-raising-a-summer-olympian/2/
Today Show’s insight on how to ‘Eat like an Olympian’ focusing on Susan Francia and Giuseppe Lanzone:https://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/48300430#48300430
Behind the Scenes
Want to see an Olympian’s view of the Olympics – pre, during, and post? Check out some of these blogs from our athletes to get a sneak peek into their experience. They also give a more in-depth view of the Games!
Megan Kalmoe: https://megankalmoe.com/
Esther Lofgren: https://estherlofgren.blogspot.com/?m=1
Sara Hendershot: https://sarahendershot.wordpress.com/
Men’s Lightweight 4-: https://usalightweightrowing.ning.com/
Thank you all for being part of this amazing time in USRowing history. Now there is only one thing left to say.
GO USA! GO FOR GOLD!!