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Silver Medalist Returns to Harvard

Senior Caryn Davies has had an eventful few months, to say the least.

In August, the Ithaca, N.Y., native captured an Olympic silver medal as member of the United States’ women’s eight. She spent a few days living it up in Greece, but returned home and reentered Harvard.

“I think I missed writing papers the least,” Davies said.

Senior Caryn Davies has had an eventful few months to say the least.

In August, the Ithaca, N.Y., native captured a silver medal as member of the United States’ women’s eight. She spent a few days living it up in Greece, then returned home and reentered Harvard after a year off.

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“I think I missed writing papers the least,” Davies said.

But simply coming back to school has, by no stretch of the imagination, meant coming back to mundane existence.

This past Monday, Davies and the rest of America’s representatives at the 2004 Olympics were invited to Washington, D.C., to meet President Bush.

After munching on pastries and sipping coffee on the South Lawn, all the athletes lined up for a group photo.

“The White House visit was actually rather anti-climactic,” Davies said.

They stood in formation for almost half an hour before President Bush showed up, and when he did, according to Davies, he made a five-minute speech, got his picture taken, shook the hands of some people in the front row, and left. “I was rather bitter that the President couldn’t even take the time to shake my hand,” Davies lamented. “In previous years President Clinton did a receiving line and shook the hand of every single Olympian...Some of my friends and I were joking that if [Bush] didn’t have time to shake our hands, the very least he could do is line us up so that he can sprint past and do a running high-five.”

Back in Cambridge on Tuesday, Davies herself welcomed Olympic visitors of her own. Seven members of the Dutch national crew and one coach arrived fresh off a silver-medal performance of their own in Athens, and took up residence in Davies’ spacious Eliot House room, “Ground Zero.”

“They brought all of their luggage into the common room, and it was all orange Olympic suitcases,” senior and Ground Zero roommate Brandon Presser said. “The common room was instantly covered with, like, 20 bags.”

It took the Dutch little time to settle in.

“We had random Playboys in the room, and as soon as they got here they turned on the TV and flipped through the Playboys,” Presser said. “They were like, ‘Hey. Playboys.’”

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