THE Rio Olympics is the end goal for a Nhill woman, who will fight for qualification this week.
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Rower Lucy Stephan, 24, is part of Rowing Australia’s women’s coxed eight squad and will compete in Lucerne, Switzerland on Sunday.
Stephan said it was her dream to go to the Olympics.
“Ever since I made Rowing Australia’s underage team in 2012, it has become something I have worked towards,” she said.
“I have put in the hours and time both on and off the water.
“Going to the Olympics has been my one true goal and it would mean everything to me to be able to pull on an Australian rowing suit and show the world what we are made off.”
Stephan was selected for the team after participating in national time trials earlier in the year.
“Olympic selections started in December last year and we had to row the single scull, which was interesting as I had never really done that before – I had always rowed as a pair,” she said.
More trials followed in January and February before being selected for the national squad.
Stephan then then moved to Sydney to train.
She will race in Lucerne on Sunday, and the finals are on Tuesday.
“We are doing really good speeds at the moment,” she said.
“We know we don't have to find anything extra on the day, we just have to do what we have been doing in training.
“I'm really excited to race – I’m nervous but it’s good nervous.
“I'm just really looking forward to executing an awesome race and one that I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Stephan said she liked rowing because it was the ultimate individual sport but also the ultimate team sport.
“You have to make sure you are physically and mentally prepared to give it your absolute all, but you are only as strong as your weakest link,” she said.
“If one person isn't rowing well it will affect the whole crew.
“It's also a sport you don't have to be gifted at – while talent helps, you just have to have desire and determination to row yourself into a hole and hope you come out the other side.
“I also love the feeling of rhythm on the water and moving over the top of it with such ease.”
Growing up in Nhill, Stephan said she had always wanted to become a rower after an Australian Institute of Sport school camp in Canberra where she beat the boys from her year in a rowing machine competition.
She attended Ballarat Grammar and was part of the crew that won the prestigious Head of the Lake regatta in 2009.
