Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: Flash Quotes 7.29.2021

Flash Quotes

Thursday: 7.29.2021

Kara Kohler (Clayton, Calif./University of California, Berkeley)

Women's Single Sculls

"It was a shaky start. I've struggled to get off the line cleanly this regatta. The crosswind has challenged me, and it challenged me again today. I was dropped pretty quickly, so that was not a great place to start – so that was rough. But, I definitely kept fighting and tried everything I had, but it was a little short today. I'm very disappointed, but I did what I could."

"The women's single sculls is an incredibly deep field, and it's anyone's game. There's no clear favorite – well, it seems like Emma (Twigg) is right now – but coming in, it was anyone's guess who could be in that A final contending for the medals. It's a tough field, and I'm proud I could be a part of it and be right there."

Megan Kalmoe (St. Croix Falls, Wis./University of Washington)

Women's Pair

"I'm glad we did it. To me, it was really just a huge honor to race in such an incredible, very deep, very competitive field of athletes, where every single person in every single boat is so good. None of the talent gets diluted; all your performances are you and your partner and that is it. We didn't get the results that we would have liked. Obviously, you want to come here, and you want to win. But I think with everything that we've gone through this year and last year, we did absolutely the best that we could."

"I'm going to be honest with you. The experience that I've had over the past two months has made me want to continue to row… I don't know if I'm going to keep going. When I get home, some of the shine might wear off. But getting back in the pair and working with Kate Bertko and coming here and racing all these women and being pushed this way and just having this experience, that was so much more uplifting than Rio. Tracy and I have worked on a lot of stuff together, kind of in the boat and out of the boat, in order to have a really good experience here, and I just feel like we've been so much happier, so much healthier as athletes and as humans. And like I said, I'm not saying that I'm coming back, but it has made it seem more like a real thing."

Tracy Eisser (Fair Lawn, N.J./Cornell University)

Women's Pair

"I think we said six weeks ago, we know this is going to be hard, and that there is no guarantee of success. And, we were right. It was very hard. But I think all of the ways in which I've been challenged and had to grow and adapt and learn – I wouldn't trade it."