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Posted on Fri, Aug. 29, 2008
Modesto Olympian Erin Cafaro: From golden to foldin'
By RON AGOSTINI ragostini@modbee.com
last updated: August 29, 2008 06:20:03 AM
http://www.modbee.com/columnists/agostini/v-print/story/411421.html

USA's women's eight crew member Erin Cafaro of Modesto poses with her gold medal and the flag during an award ceremony at the Beijing Olympics. Cafaro credits her brother, J.D. Cafaro, with preparing her physically for the competition. - AP - Gregory Bull

Nastia Liukin was interviewed by Jay Leno. Shawn Johnson was cheered at the Democratic National Convention. Michael Phelps prepares to serve as host of "Saturday Night Live."
And what about Erin Cafaro, Modesto's Olympic gold medalist? She's doing her brother's laundry.

"Sibling love," she summarized Thursday from the San Francisco home of J.D. Cafaro, former Cal football player. "He helped me so much."
Cafaro, 25, calls herself the "happiest homeless person I know. I'm living off the dream right now."

Rowing never has commanded prime time and never will. Cafaro's Olympic odyssey was pure in scope and sincere in ambition. You don't get rich pulling oars through the water day by day and year by year. Her payoff in the end was about $160, the financial worth of a gold medal.
Not exactly a Wheaties box or seven-figure endorsement contract.

What you can achieve, however, is Olympic glory, which is priceless. For Cafaro, the graduate of Modesto High whose women's eight crew seized gold for the first time in 20 years, that's more than enough. She's the fourth Modestan to win an Olympic gold medal -- shot putter Wilbur "Moose" Thompson in 1948, javelin thrower Cy Young in 1952 and soccer player Tisha Venturini in 1996 are the others -- and only she knows, in painful intimate detail, the price paid along the way.

Cafaro has strewn parts of her life throughout the country. Boxes of her belongings remain at her parents' Modesto home. Other items are left at the team's training center in Princeton, N.J., and training sites in San Diego and Hawaii.

For now, Cafaro stays at the home of J.D., her unofficial coach and trainer. There is business to tend to and, yes, waiting through laundry spin cycles.
"J.D. said I'd have to work harder than anyone else," she said. "I was in great condition, thanks in part to him."

Cafaro believes her physical edge came from CrossFit, an elite fitness program favored by martial arts and police academies and world-class athletes. J.D. talked her into the workout regimen this year, when seven years of rowing reached its climax in Beijing.
See, Cafaro stands only 5 feet 8 inches (she fudged on all bios that list her at 5-10) and, from her seat on the bow, is the smallest member of the Olympic team, not counting coxswain Mary Whipple of Sacramento.

Making the team alone was daunting. Though Cafaro rowed to an NCAA title at Cal in 2005 and two world championships last year, she had yet to earn her seat on the Olympic women's eight, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist. Bumping out another worthy athlete was her only route to Beijing.

Which means she had to compensate size with strength.
"I got familiar with my pain threshold. I lost about 10 pounds, but my strength-to-weight ratio definitely increased," she said. "I make up for it (her size) with feistiness. I also can lift the same weights with the other girls."

When the team was set in June, it turned its target toward Romania, the three-time defending Olympic champion. Four years ago in Athens, the Romanians edged Turlock's Ali Cox and her women's eight teammates. In 1984, Team USA claimed its previous gold medal by upsetting Romania.

By now, you've probably read how Cafaro poured water from Lake Casitas -- the site of the Americans' victory in '84 -- on the fingers and legs of her teammates for good luck. And how Whipple showed a film of that long-ago triumph to her team before it departed for China.
Cafaro and Company didn't attend the opening ceremony because competition began only two days later. The fun would wait until later. Romania was the target.

While the crews sat still in the water, seconds before the start of the 2,000-meter final race, Cafaro was freshened by a quiet calm and confidence.

"I knew I had put in the work. Nobody else was going to be more fit than I was in that seat," she recalled. "I looked left and right and sized up everybody and felt, 'Ready to go.' I knew we would be fit and tough."

The Americans took charge seconds after the oars hit the water. They extended their lead through the halfway point and held off the Dutch, who edged the stunned Romanians for the silver. The usual post-race agony was accompanied by sheer joy.

"I do this for the satisfaction afterward. During it, you have to convince yourself you're not going to die," Cafaro said. "When you win, it makes it all worthwhile." Cafaro wore her gold medal during a party-filled second week. The team moved into the Olympic Village, attended the closing ceremony and finally discovered it had achieved a degree of fame. Introductions to 1992 Dream Team star Clyde Drexler and actor Vince Vaughn spiced Cafaro's Olympic experience.
"I asked Vince at the airport, 'Can I take your picture?' " she said. "He said, 'Sure, if I can take your picture.' "

Finally, Modesto's civic celebration to honor Cafaro this week was postponed. Why? Oprah Winfrey called. Yes, even rowing teams will reap a few spoils if the medal is golden. To make room for an appearance on Oprah's TV show, the city's Olympic festival is rescheduled for Sept. 8.

Perhaps by then, Cafaro will survey her road to Olympic history: the newspaper story about Cox that spurred her interest in rowing, the day in 1996 she first touched a gold medal won by Tisha Venturini and, this year, the home stretch where not even two broken ribs stalled her drive toward China.

"A junior rower from Marin asked me this week, 'When did you first dream about the Olympics?' " she said. "I never really had a dream about the Olympics, I just wanted to be the best at what I did on that day, and the next. Going for the Olympics just sort of happened."
Rest assured, Cafaro's journey was no accident, which is why she doesn't mind folding her brother's clothes.