Goodale, bottom center, travels to New Zealand this month to compete with the U.S. women’s eight in the World Rowing Championships. Goodale, of Camden, ME, and Boothbay Harbor’s Eleanor Logan, who is also competing, helped the U.S. win gold in the Beijing Olympics.Courtesy USA Rowing
Anna Goodale of Camden has been selected to the U.S. women's eight, joining Boothbay Harbor's Eleanor Logan in the World Rowing Championships in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand, Oct. 31-Nov. 7.
"I will be there after a very trying year," said the 27-year-old Goodale in a phone interview. "I'm glad to say I made the team again."
Goodale, who along with Logan helped the U.S. eight to a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had to battle injuries and some stiff – and younger – competition to make the team.
"It was all about her getting back into shape," said Tom Terhaar, coach of the women's eight. "That was part of the problem, plus she has some very good talent around her."
Goodale wasn't on the original women's eight roster announced by U.S. Rowing on Sept. 21. But, said Terhaar, that was just a technicality. She and her rowing partner, Taylor Ritzel, were always going to be on the eight.
"It's a complicated thing," he said. "Basically, they were the last two in."
The selection seemed to move Goodale more than any of the others in the past. She took eight months off after the Beijing Olympics, backpacking across Asia, and lost much of the muscular bulk needed for competitive rowing. "My muscles went from bulk to long and lean by not lifting three times a day," she said.
When she returned to Princeton, N.J., to resume training with the national team, she suffered a nagging rib injury which has forced her to occasionally shut down. And when she was rowing, she wasn't able to provide the powerful strokes she had in the past.
"It's hard to row cautiously because you have to give everything you've got," she said. "My knees are sore ... I got older.
"It's amazing how different my body feels then when I came out of college."
Logan, who will miss the fall semester at Stanford University to compete in the world championships, said the competition is what makes the selection so gratifying.
"It always surprises me how much of a challenge it is," said Logan. "That's why it's fun, to see how hard I can push myself. It's really a unique thing to be part of. And I'm really glad to be part of it."
Goodale said she has only recently begun to feel like she's in rowing shape. "The last few weeks of seat racing, I remembered I knew how to row and earned my spot on the team," she said, of the team's selection process.
Being one of the older members of the team, Goodale said her role has changed slightly. "The last four years, I was the young gun coming in with nothing to lose," she said. "Now I'm on the other side of it. I'm more of a veteran and I have to treat my body differently. I don't have that sheer power. I have to row quite differently than in the past."
Logan said everyone is learning her role on the boat. "The thing about the eight is that everyone is kind of a leader," she said. "We all bring a unique part to the boat."
Right now, Logan is stroking the boat (the first seat after the coxswain, setting the rowing rhythm) while Goodale is at the bow (the last seat).
"But we've still got five weeks to go," said Terhaar. "They could be at opposite ends of the boat by then. We don't put too much stock into where everyone is sitting right now."
Both aspire to be part of the eight for the 2012 London Olympics. For Goodale, it would likely be her last major competition.
"There are no guarantees," she said, of making the London team. "I just take it year by year. But I wouldn't have come back unless I had the desire to go to London."
She has thought about her life after rowing. She illustrated a published children's book, "Wren's Summer Day" by Matthew Stevens, and has begun work on an autobiographical children's picture book. She hopes it will be the start of a "Dreams Come True" series in which she illustrates and tells the inspirational stories of Olympic athletes.
"It combines my three loves: children, sports and art," said Goodale. "I can't think of anything better."
For now, though, she and Logan – who is working with Stanford officials to be able to graduate on time next spring – have plenty of work ahead.
"It's always exciting to make the team," said Logan. "But the real goal is to be going to the world championships, or the Olympics, and winning. The hard part is still ahead."
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