Olympics Women's Rowing Preview, Pac-12 Edition

Previous Pac-12 Olympic previews: Women's soccer | Men's basketball | Men's swimming | Women's swimming | Men's rowing

WOMEN’S EIGHT:

Erin Cafaro (Cal) won gold at the 2008 Olympics in the women’s eight and is looking to repeat in London. She also struck at the 2007 FISA World Championships (women’s four), the 2007 FISA World Cup (women’s eight) and the 2005 FISA Under 23 World Championships (women’s four). Cafaro earned second at the 2006 FISA World Cup (women’s eight) and third at the 2006 FISA World Championships (women’s four). Nationally, the former Golden Bear won the 2005 NCAA Championship (women’s varsity eight), the 2005 Pac-10 Championship (women’s varsity eight) and the 2006 Pac-10 Championship (women’s varsity eight). She helped her teammates take second in the 2006 NCAA Championship (women’s varsity eight).

Elle Logan comes from Boothbay Harbor, Maine but was schooled and trained at Stanford. Preparing for her second Olympics – she won gold in Beijing in the women’s eight – Logan will be racing in the women’s eight. Also is 2008, Logan won the National Selection Regatta #2 (women’s pair) and took third in the FISA World Cup (women’s pair). In 2007 she took third in both the FISA World Under 23 Championships (women’s eight) and the U.S. National Championships (women’s eight). That year she was named to the All-Pac-10 Conference Team and the All-American Team. Two years earlier, she won the U.S. National Championships (women’s elite/open eight) and the U.S. National Championships (women’s senior eight) and placed fourth in the FISA World Junior Championships (women’s eight).

Mary Whipple (Washington), gearing up for her third straight Olympics, will be in the women’s eight. She, too, was part of the gold-medaling women’s eight in Beijing. Prior to the 2008 Games, Whipple was a piece of the women’s eight that set a world record in the heat and won silver in the 2004 Olympics. Other international medals include winning the 2007 FISA World Championships (women’s eight), the 2007 FISA World Cup (women’s eight), the 2006 FISA World Championships (women’s eight) and the 2006 Henley Royal Regatta (women’s eight). On U.S. soil, Whipple was a team member of the 2007 winning women’s eight at the U.S. National Championships.

WOMEN’S QUADRUPLE SCULLS:

Kara Kohler, a senior at Cal, was a competitive swimmer throughout high school in Clayton, Calif. and only began rowing a few years ago. But, her talents have brought her to London and she will be a part of the quadruple sculls. Recently at the 2012 Samsung World Rowing Cup I she finished fourth in the quadruple sculls and in the Cup II she finished eighth. As far as gold medals go, she’s come out on top at the 2011 World Rowing Championships (four), the 2011 Rowing World Cup (eight), the Princess Grace Challenge Cup at the 2011 Henley Royal Regatta, the 2010 World Rowing Under 23 Championships (eight), the 2011 World Rowing Championships Trials (four) and the 2010 Pac-10 Championships (varsity eight). At the 2010 NCAA Championships she earned fourth in the varsity eight. Kohler was a 2011 DI First-Team All-American, named the Pac-10 Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2010, won Cal’s Most Promising Freshman Award, was a 2010 DI Second-Team All-American and a 2010 First-Team DI All-West Region selection.

Two-time Olympian Megan Kalmoe -- she represented the U.S. in 2008, placing fifth in the double -- attended the University of Washington where she was a First-Team Pac-10 All-Academic selection in 2006, 2005 and 2004, a 2006 All-Pac-10 Conference, a 2006 All-Region (West), an Academic All-American in 2006 and 2005, a 2006 All-American and the 2006 UW Team Captain and 101 Club Scholar Athlete. In 2008 she won gold at the National Selection Regatta #2 (double sculls) and placed seventh at the FISA World Cup (double sculls). In 2007 Kalmoe finished second in the U.S. National Championships (quadruple sculls), fourth in the U.S. National Championships (double sculls) and sixth in the National Selection Regatta #3 (double sculls). In 2006 at UW she placed ninth at the NCAA Championships (varsity eight) and in 2005 she won the FISA Under 23 World Championships (four) and took 12th at the NCAA Championships (varsity eight).

The 2010 University of Washington team captain Adrienne Martelli has listed her most memorable sporting achievement as making up more than a boat-length in the final 500m to win the varsity four at the 2008 NCAA Championships, in which UW completed an undefeated season. Martelli was later named a 2009 First-Team DI All-American and to the 2009 and 2010 All-Pac-10 Conference First Teams and the 2009 and 2010 Pac-10 All-Academic Teams. Nationally, Martelli has won the double sculls at the 2011 USRowing Elite Nationals, finished 11th at the 2009 and 2010 NCAA Championships (varsity eight) and won the senior pair and intermediate pair at the 2008 USRowing Club National Championships. Internationally, she earned silver at the 2011 World Rowing Championships (quadruple sculls), bronze at the 2010 World Rowing Championships (four) and silver at the 2009 World Rowing Under 23 Championships (eight).

WOMEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT DOUBLE SCULLS:

Julie Nichols (Cal) was named USRowing’s 2011 Athlete of the Year. The current PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at UCLA won the 2011 Overall Rowing World Cup in lightweight double sculls and the 2011 Rowing World Cup stop in Hamburg in lightweight double sculls. Also in 2011, she earned bronze in lightweight double sculls at the Rowing World Cup stop in Lucerne. At the 2007 Pan American Games she took silver in quadruple sculls and at the 2008 World Rowing Senior and Junior World Championships she finished fourth in lightweight single sculls.

Competing for Canada, Patricia Obee (Oregon State) only started to row in 2009 at the age of 18. She made her international debut one year later and at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships she sat at the start line in both the lightweight double sculls and the eight, in which she won bronze. In her second season of international competition Obee won bronze in the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in lightweight single sculls and in her first senior World Rowing Championships she raced lightweight double sculls to silver, qualifying the boat for London.