Zen And The Art Of Rowing With Michelle Sechser

Dying To Ask: Road to Paris

The girls in the boat are heading to Paris and Folsom's Michelle Sechser has Lake Natoma to thank.

Sechser is a two-time Olympic rower in lightweight double sculls. She fell in love with the sport at age 14 after following her older sister to Capital Crew.

That rowing club is based at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center on Lake Natoma and has produced multiple Olympic champions.

"When I started at Capital Crew, never in a million years that I think I will be a two-time Olympian," Sechser said.

She started seriously pursuing the National Rowing Team after grad school and came in 5th at the Tokyo Olympics.

Lightweight sculls feature athletes much smaller than those found on the eight-person boats. That leads to races being won (or lost) in the blink of an eye.

At 37, Sechser is older than a lot of rowers. She'd already planned on Paris being her last Olympics. Then the International Olympic Committee announced her event would be dropped from the Olympic lineup after 2024.

Sechser predicts an epic final saying, "I know every girl on that starting line will be having the exact same thought, which is I've got nothing to lose, cause this is it. It's all or nothing."

On this Dying to Ask:

• The Zen of rowing
• How rowing with a partner is like being in a marriage
• How to build physical and mental endurance and push through boredom