Senior Caryn Davies was a member of the 2003 NCAA Champion Radcliffe crew. Last year, she left Harvard to train for the Olympics. She rowed in the US women’s eight that won the 2002 World Championship, and she was selected as a member of the women’s eight to compete in the Athens Olympics this summer.

Prior to their arrival in Greece, the crew spent ten days in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, training. The tiny town was turned upside down—or, more accurately, turned itself upside down—accommodating the team. In addition to providing a police motorcade that sped through red lights to and from the practice course, men with large guns were stationed every 100 meters or so along the course. The team stayed in a hotel rumored to be run by the mafia—a rumor made very believeable by the fact that in the window of every floor was a man with a large gun.

In the crew’s opening heat in Greece, the eight set the world record for their event, covering the two kilometers in 5.56.55. But Romania edged out the Americans in the final by half a length, and Davies has returned to Cambridge, silver medal in tow, to complete her senior year.

J. Patrick Coyne: Did you come across any famous athletes?

Caryn Davies: There were these three guys walking, and I could tell they were American because they were wearing the same thing I was. So I was like “Oh hey guys, you’re American, what do you do?” and they were like “Oh we’re swimmers.” “Cool, I’m a rower. So did you, you know, win any medals?” And they all looked uncomfortable to talk about it, and they were all looking at each other like “Uh, um,” and I was like “So!” and they were like, “Between us, we have six gold, five bronzes and about four silvers.” And I was like “Yeah. I’ve got one silver.” I forget their names. I know it wasn’t Michael Phelps. That’s what everyone wants to know, “Did you meet Michael Phelps?” No. I don’t think I met anyone really famous.

JPC: What was it like to break the world record?

CD: We actually had no idea we had set the world record until one of the guys interviewing us right after the race was like, “So how does it feel to set the world record?” One of my teammates accidentally swore and was like “Holy shit! We set the world record?” and we were like “Holy shit! She just swore on national TV.”…Someone made the comment “Well yeah, it was good a thing we set the world record, because if we hadn’t set the world record, we would have come in third.” A lot of it was the really strong tailwind. I actually think our heat was our best race. We were almost a little more, not hungry, but we definitely just were out of it (the start). In the final we were almost a little more conservative off the start, because we didn’t want to waste our energy. But it turns out maybe it would have been better to do what we had in the heat and just get out early and hang on by the thread of our teeth.

JPC: Were you happy with your finals race?

CD: Intellectually, yes. We had a great race, I don’t think we made any mistakes really. We raced our hardest, we gave a good fight to the Romanians, and they were just better on that day. But at the same time I think there’s always going to be that emotional bit of “Shit—we beat them before. Why didn’t we beat them again?” So, I’m not unhappy with the silver, but I think there will always be that little bit of “I want to win gold.” I was planning to keep rowing to 2008 anyway, but I think in a way, maybe it’s almost better because there’s still little bit farther to go.

JPC: So you’re planning to definitely come back in 2008?

CD: As of now, yeah.

JPC: Where do you keep your medal?

CD: Want to see it? (She pulls medal out). I keep it in my purse.

JPC: You really always have it?

CD: Uh-huh. Because people always ask to see it. I mean, eventually I’ll stop carrying it around and put it on my shelf or something. It’s really handy sometimes, like if you can’t get into a club or something…It’s been through quite a bit—it’s been dropped a few times, spilled beer on it—I’m actually not even sure if this is my medal, because before I got it engraved, I was standing there talking to this guy who was in the Dutch men’s eight who also won silver [to the US’s gold]. And we were kind of like comparing our medals, and—it does have the event on it, but it’s in Greek, so I can’t read it, and I was a little drunk at the time, so I just grabbed his medal and I was switching them around (she motions as if she were playing two medal monte) and mixed them up, and he was like “Mine’s that one,” and he seemed pretty sure, so I trusted him, but for all I know I could have a men’s silver medal.