Olympic Champions Pt 2

The night before any race we always meet in my room and Mike goes over all of the logistics for the next day including eating times and bus times so everyone is on the same page. We talk about the race, what we think will happen, who to look out for, what other people are capable of but more importantly we talk about what we need to do in order to win by a large margin. I always do a simulated race where I go over all the calls and most of the guys close their eyes and visualize the race in their mind. After all of that was done Mike did something that he never does in a pre-race talk. He read us a poem. It was a very special poem though. It was a poem about us. I'll always remember that he wrote a poem about the 1992 Canadian Gold medal Eight called "Barcelona Gold" and this time it was about us! It may seem odd to you, but to have Mike write a poem with your name in it means you have left an impression on one of the hardest men in the world. It was a very special moment for us all and one that I won't forget.

We had it all planned out.....we had practiced our race day ritual many times. We were like clockwork heading down to the course with everyone knowing exactly what had to be done on the water. Nerves are a tricky thing as they can sometimes hinder your performance if you let them get in the way. For us, it was always the acknowledgment that they were there, everyone was feeling them so it was normal to feel that way. You could feel some tension in the boat the morning of the race but that soon subsided over the 4km row and it soon switched to intensity over the final 2km of the race simulation where I go through all the calls on the course exactly where they would be taking place so the guys have a full visualization of the race.
Our race wasn't until 5:30pm which now meant we had from about 10am (morning pre-row done) till 3:30pm which was the bus down to the course. At one point Kyle and I literally had nothing to do so we just started packing our bags as it took our minds off the racing for a few minutes and allowed us to actually do something productive. I knew my weight was fine as I had been checking it religiously 3 times a day. All I was going to have to do was drink 250ml of water and my weight was perfect. (121.2lbs) Couldn't ask for it to be better than that.
As the guys showed up at the course we turned the boat over so Mike (coach) and I could give it one final check to make sure all nuts are tight, seats are moving smooth and the boat is totally clean. I remembered that our lightweight women's double was coming down the course so a bunch of us headed upstairs to watch them start the day with a bronze medal. The lightweight four followed suit with a bronze of their own. I remember thinking that this was great news for Rowing Canada as we were now poised to become the top medal sport for the country.