Lofgren and her U.S. teammates pulled away from their competitors in the third 500 meters to earn the coveted gold in 6:12.42, 3.7 seconds ahead of runner-up Canada.

For Lofgren, becoming a world champion has been one of the defining moments of her young career so far.

“Winning gold at Lake Karapiro was an incredible, wonderful, amazing experience,” Lofgren wrote. “The race itself was exciting—we were able to keep executing our race plan, and kept moving on the field and building momentum as we raced towards the finish line. It was absolutely a team effort—we made a commitment to each other that at no point in the race were we going to be satisfied with where we were.”

“It makes me very proud of her accomplishments,” O’Leary said. “You always like to think that you play a part in helping her along the way, but in the end, it always boils down to all the work she put in over a long period of time.”

Though preparations for a 2012 Olympics run lie in the near future, last week’s achievement is just beginning to sink in.

“Waiting for the awards ceremony, I found myself in tears—it hadn’t hit home that we’d won, that all of my work over the last five years and especially my training since joining the squad in Princeton last October had resulted in earning a seat in the boat I’ve dreamed of rowing in,” Lofgren wrote in her blog. “We [had] achieved the goal we’d all set for ourselves. It was a powerful and emotional realization, and I was so happy to be able to share my joy with the women with whom I’d achieved these things.”

Rightfully so, the athlete who has worked the hardest has earned success competing at the highest level.

But as Esther Lofgren would say, it certainly didn’t come without some obstacles to overcome.

—Staff writer Kevin T. Chen can be reached at ktchen@fas.harvard.edu.