Rowin’ with Her Homies
“Not all athletes are dumb jocks.” That’s especially the case when you’re dealing with world-class rowers who began their careers doing crew for Big Red. Olympic rower Jen Kaido, class of ‘03, is back from Beijing after helping the U.S. finish fifth, just behind Germany and Ukraine in the women’s quadruple sculls. We caught up to her via telephone and chatted about food, studs, and the atmospheric temperament in China.
CornellWatch: It’s been almost a month since you’ve gotten back from Beijing. What is your favorite memory from the games?
Walking into the Bird’s Nest during the closing ceremonies; there were so many people in the stands, cheering, waving flags, it was amazing! I just kept thinking, “This must be how Michael Phelps feels where ever he goes.” It was just awesome to be there with different types of athletes from other countries and know the people in the stands are there to support you.
Speaking of Michael Phelps, did you party with any stud muffins at Olympic Village?
I actually saw Vince Vaughn and the women’s soccer team while I was out. Other than that, it was just other athletes.
Even in the company of teammates and fellow athletes, what was it like competing in China? How’d you adjust to the city?
It felt just like another regatta. There were definitely many more distractions, with all the other events going on besides rowing. The Olympic coverage in the U.S. was amazing, but I didn’t see any of that sort there. I felt kind of removed from the Olympics, even though I was competing in them. The weather was tough and it was difficult to breathe at first; it was very smoggy the first couple days, but I actually got used to it and never noticed the smog after that. I didn’t have black snot or cough up anything dirty like people warned us about!
Then the cloud seeding must have worked!
There were a lot of really nice clear blue skies the last week. I had heard about the cloud seeding, but never saw it being done, so I didn’t think they actually did it.
Besides the air quality, food was a concern for athletes. Were the Chinese government’s confident assertions of food safety comforting… or just sketch?
It was comforting, actually. I was never really worried about the food, although I was a little nervous the first couple of days because of all the built-up warnings to watch what you eat. We were staying at a hotel near the rowing venue, not in the Olympic Village, so our food was catered at the hotel. There was even a separate food inspector there just for our food.
Were you tempted to try any of the “exotic” treats, namely candied scorpions and assorted critters of that sort?
We were warned not to try food outside of our hotel or the Village during competition. I stayed away from anything out of the ordinary, even after racing was done.
So, were you cyclically overdosed on Chinese cuisine during your stay? I mean, I love Chinese food, but I can see that becoming a major ooof!
My first meal after racing was a calzone, which was amazing! I had been eating the same meals rotated every 3 days in the hotel for 3 weeks so some Italian sounded really good! They served us Chinese food, which they tried to Americanize, and they also had pasta and sauce, if you wanted that.
Let’s talk about the actual race you competed in. What was it like just being edged out by the Ukrainians for fourth place?
It was tough because we had been beating them consistently in previous races…we beat them in Lucerne at the World Cup.
Team U.S.A was awesome nonetheless. What are you up to these days in Princeton?
I’ve just been rowing, training and working for a restaurant group. I really like Princeton. The town is great: lots of cute shops, good cafes and it’s easy to walk around.
It’s been said that if the Ivy League were a country, we’d have the 8th most total medals in the world. How do you feel about that statistic? What do you envision the “Ivy Nation” would be like?
That’s a pretty impressive stat. Not all athletes are dumb jocks. I think “Ivy Nation” would be like Cape Cod, or the Hamptons, but on steroids… there would be a lot of “Tea Par-tays!”
