Another Medal for TeamUSA! Congrats to the Women's 4x...& special congrats to RBC Alum Natalie Dell!

The USA Women's Quad Brings Home the Bronze!

Natalie Dell, Kara Kohler, Megan Kalmoe, and Adrienne Martelli

What an incredible race it was! The USA women flying through the finish line in third place with a time of 6:40.63, just behind Germany with a time of 6:38.09 and both behind Ukraine first place finishers who came across the line with a time of 6:35.93. It was evident that everything was left on the course this morning by each and every competitor. Duking it out down the 2000m race course at Eton Dorney. I couldn't be more proud of the USA women, and their well deserved bronze medal, and thankful for the inspiration, and focus their experience had provided me.

As the close to my college rowing career is drawing near, and my years of collegiate eligibility are down to 1, the reality of my post graduate aspirations of training to compete at the 2016 Olympics is becoming amazingly current. The story of US Olympic rower Natalie Dell, and the road which lead her to earning a spot on the 2012 USA Olympic team is not only incredibly inspirational for me as I embark on the arduous experience from square one myself- but it truly shows that if you work hard enough, and want something bad enough- with enough heart, you can achieve anything.

Natalie Dell, a Penn State graduate, had never touched a sculling oar until her post-grad rowing experience, where she first learned how to scull at Riverside Boat Club, the club I currently train and compete for on the U-23 team. Dell began rowing for the first time at Penn State, she spent her college years racing throughout the collegiate season in sweep boats for Penn State, and spent her summers at various Philadelphia clubs sweep rowing for their respective U-23 programs. As her college career came to an end, she picked up the art of sculling at Boston's very own Riverside Boat Club- and not long after spent 3 years on the US National Team where she trained for her most current achievement- not only a spot on the US Olympic Team, but the opportunity to bring home a Bronze medal for her country.

Natalie Dell;  Penn State graduate and Riverside Boat Club Alum grasping her hard fought Bronze medal!

If there is anything that struck me almost instantaneously when I saw the below photograph, it is the complete and utterly genuine emotion seeping from the picture as Dell shows her proud parents her first olympic medal. Making it as far as the Olympics is an incredible feat, and one that every elite athlete finds themselves striving for- but it is an accomplishment achieved with the help of many. 

It is the support of those who love you through and through, those who support you on your journey to greatness which allows to you train and compete at your highest possible level of performance. The relationships you maintain with family and friends, coaches and teammates, those relationships and the strength you undeniably take from them are the foundation of your emotional and mental success through such trials and tribulations brought on by the path to Olympic greatness. 

What makes this moment captured below sensational, is the sheer joy and reward so obviously felt by Dell as she shares such a long, hard-fought accomplishment with her parents. 

It is unbelievable what the power of support can do for your performance, and for these four women in the USA 4X I believe this is so evidently clear. 

With the support of each other, their coaches, families and friends....Natalie Dell, Kara Kohler, Megan Kalmoe, and Adrienne Martelli achieved greatness. 

After crossing the finish line in medaling position, taking home a bronze for team USA, Dell hopped out of the boat and waded over to her proud parents in the crowd to show them her hardware. Such a beautifully captured emotional moment, just incredible.