VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France (AP) — It was a “soul crushing” end to the Paris Olympics for 41-year-old Meghan Musnicki, the oldest American woman to ever row at the Summer Games.
Musnicki and her U.S. teammates finished fifth in the final of the women’s eight on Saturday in what was likely Musnicki’s last Olympic race.
Choking back tears, she knew it likely meant the end of a cycle.
“I’m incredibly grateful,” Musnicki said. “I’m heartbroken, but it’s a privilege to row with these women. It’s been a privilege since my first team in 2010 right up until now. They’re an amazing group of athletes. I consider myself one incredibly lucky woman.”
Musnicki, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was the last active link to the U.S. women’s eight dynasty that won every Olympic and world title from 2006 to 2016. She won her Olympic golds with the women’s eight at London in 2012 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“It’s a portion of my life that I’ll never forget and that will always be special to me,” she said. “It hurts right now, a lot, but I know that these women and the women from all my other cycles, we will always have this.”
The previous oldest American woman rower was Lisa Schlenker, who was 39 when she competed at Athens in 2004.
The U.S. finished Saturday’s race nearly seven seconds behind winner Romania. Canada took the silver, Britain got bronze and Australia placed fourth. The U.S. had also missed out on the podium in Tokyo three years ago, finishing fourth.
“The nature of sport is you don’t always win and that’s kind of a harsh reality of it,” said Musnicki. “And we ended up on the back side of it today. But I’m really proud of what this boat has put together and the campaign that we did. And we stayed together, all nine of us through it all.”
The four-time Olympian attributed the U.S. team’s failure to win a medal to the high level of competition in women’s rowing.
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“That’s very exciting and it’s incredible to be a part of that,” she said. “That’s not to say that it’s not, quite candidly, soul crushing to be on the back side of it. But again, these are all incredible athletes. You’re racing at the Olympics. You are the best of the best of your country. Whether you come in first in the A final or last in the F final, you represent your country and you do them proud.”
Her teammate Claire Collins said Musnicki’s “great pedigree” and “incredible work ethic” boosted the American team.
“I feel very lucky that I’ve been able to overlap with her on this team because she was very much my idol growing up,” the 27-year-old Collins said. “So it was really special to get to race with her.”
Musnicki retired after the Tokyo Games, then got married, moved to California and worked a full-time job at a tech company before deciding to return to rowing to be at the Olympics again. She previously said she wouldn’t continue after the Paris Games, but hasn’t made any of her plans official.
Her priorities after Saturday’s race were clear.
“I’m going home to be with my cats and my husband,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
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