Women's crew coach boasts Olympic gold

When Penn women's crew coach Carol Bower received her Olympic gold medal, she could think of only one thing. Water. "At that point I was still recovering from the race," Bower said. "I was feeling really hot and I really wanted to have some water." For Bower, the gold medal capped a five-year rowing career with the U.S. national team that included winning the 1,000-meter race in the 1984 Olympics. "The best part about the medal was that it offered a closure," Bower said. "The medal is the neat little bow on the top of a box." But her Olympic race didn't start as well as she had hoped. Although the U.S. boat was favored to win, the underdog Romanian boat had won all the previous Olympic races that year. And the Romanians were rowing right alongside the U.S. for most of the race. In the last 200 meters, Bower said she felt a surge of energy as the boat moved faster over the water. "We all connected to the same thought at the same time," she said. "I had this incredible sense that we were going to win this race." Bower had also been a part of the 1980 women's national boat that did not get to attend the Olympics held in Moscow as result of a U.S. boycott of the games. The crew had just upset the East Germans at a pre-Olympic race and were in contention for its first-ever gold medal. "There were all these people bringing their skills together and there was no race," she said. "You're left open-ended." But Bower's missed opportunity did not affect her decision to continue racing on the international level. In between the two Olympics, Bower trained independently while coaching Yale's novice crew. This helped her improve her technical rowing skills, she said. Bower said that she went into the 1984 Olympics knowing that it was going to be her last race. "You only get one chance," she said. She returned to the U.S. national team in 1991 but this time as a coach. "It was humbled by that somewhat," she said. "I learned that there is a lot of preparation and committee work that you can't let distract you from coaching." With the recent Title IX settlement, Bower, who has been promoted to a full-time coach, will be devoting more time to recruiting and fundraising. "In the same way that I wanted to be the best in the country for myself, now I want to work to make a program to be the best in the country," Bower said. Although crew has no professional level, Bower still races competitively on the masters level. Every year, she rejoins her 1980 U.S. national team to race in the "Head of the Charles" race against the best college teams, which often includes Penn crew. The Penn team and the U.S. team have beaten each other in the past couple of years. But Bower said she never lets her teams beat her. "I know my runners are gunning for me," she said.