Olympics Diary from Kate Johnson (Part 6)
9/6/2004 12:00:00 AM | Rowing, Olympics
University of Michigan women's rowing alumna Kate Johnson (1998-2001) was a member of the United States women's eight boat which earned a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Johnson has been providing periodic updates on her trip.
I know I didn't write after our final. Honestly, we jumped right into celebration mode. We moved to the Olympic Village for the second week and spent our time doing interviews and going to various medalist parties in Athens. From Sports Illustrated parties to the USA House and MTV party we celebrated in good fashion with athletes from around the globe. The medal became a check card throughout the Olympic festivities. During the day I tried to go to as many events as possible. I saw the U.S. women win the gold medal in soccer and basketball and watched the 200-meter race dominated by the American men. Later in the week my boat and I were on "The Today Show" and I invited Katie Couric out for a ride in our boat. She may join us in Boston in October.
After the closing ceremonies a few teammates and I went to the Island of Hydra to unwind before coming home. It was awesome. Within minutes the small town knew they had Olympic medalists on their island and they celebrated us as only a small town can. With sincere hugs and homemade gifts. It was incredible. The most serendipitous moment of the trip was when I walked into a high-end jewelry store and discovered that I was in the store of the woman who designed the Olympic medal for the Athens Games and what will be the face of the Olympic medal from here on. Her name is Elena Votsi. She had yet to see the final product because the IOC bought the design from her and she had to sign over all ownership of the design of the medal after winning the design selection. I was able to show her family the very first of her final product. They cried and took pictures of me holding her baby and posing with her parents. Elena Votsi was still in Athens so I did not meet her but talked to her by phone. It was awesome. A complete closure to an incredible three weeks.
>Olympic silver medalists! It's still sinking in. I've received a few emails asking what I thought of the race ... how I felt once it was over. We crossed the finish line and I felt a rush of emotion. Yes, I wanted gold, we all did, but most of all I wanted to cross that line with nothing left to give. Our race was everything we had to give. It was our best race of the year from start to finish. It was a strange feeling putting our best race of the year out there and to get second for the first time all year ... stranger still was that second place was an Olympic silver medal. Standing on the podium with the heavy medal around my neck was the first time I really felt what it was we were racing for.
The Olympic final was different from any race I've ever been in. All year we've put ourselves out there for every race, challenging the other teams to come with us ... and we'd win. The Olympic final is a whole other experience and until I crossed that finish line I hadn't understood the value of experience. Other teams brought a game that we hadn't seen from them in four years. The Dutch had the sprint of their lives, the Romanians a stronger second half than anything they've done all year. And we raced as we had all year, we put our best out there just as we've always done. We didn't save any surprises for the final. And maybe that's the difference. The other teams left something to show for the final.
The energy was amazing passing between all six crews and the charge for the finish was closer than anything I've ever felt. And now that I've claimed my first Olympic experience and medal I understand something different about this sport. Something I will take with me into the future of our sport. Many of us will return for the 2008 Games but for now we are basking in our success. I am thrilled and enjoying every second of the entire experience. I hope to see many of you as I make my way home across the country. I'll be visiting Ann Arbor the 9-11th of September and then I'll be on to Colorado the 16th through the 20th. I'll be back in Portland on the 23rd.
