Cameron fighting for one more
In double sculls, your fate sits one metre away.
No matter how fast, fit or focused you are, success on the water comes from two people in a boat. It’s a relationship not just special to double sculls but also to Tracy Cameron, one of three women battling to wear the Maple Leaf in lightweight pairs en route to London 2012.
Victoria B.C natives Lindsay Jennerich, 27, and Patricia Obee, 20, are also doing everything they can to be in that boat.
“You can’t do it alone,” says Cameron who has returned from injury and is now in a ‘good place’ to build her training around a podium goal at the Games.
“It is the combination of two individuals coming together to have the best day of their life when it comes down to the Olympic final. … You almost have to share a brain with that girl.”
Cameron would have it no other way.
Though she admits the thought of being the odd woman out would be “scary”, she has a hard time hiding her excitement for the in-house competition and how progressive it is for the rowing outlook in Canada.
“No matter what combination we put together, I fully believe we can medal (in London),” says the 2010 world champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist.
“When you have this situation where there’s three people vying for two spots and everyone is good, that’s the fuel driving our program. It can only help us excel.”
It’s this kind of drive Cameron believes has spread through the Canadian Olympic team since Beijing.
It’s something the Truro, N.S. native living in Calgary takes responsibility for and is excited to pass along to those embracing the Olympic process for the first time.
“I feel like I get more inspired by sharing what I know,” she said. “It’s another type of fuel, it really helps drive you to the line because you realize what you’re doing affects so many people. It makes them better.”
If she makes the team, Cameron says this will be her last Olympics; the final leg of a journey mapped out with passion and belief. Even with retirement on the horizon, though, the 36 year-old Olympic veteran is committed to a dream bigger than what she alone can accomplish.
“(As a team member) you gain a bigger understanding that you belong to this Olympic family. It’s not just you,” she said. “No amount of training on the water can replace that.”
