This story first appeared on DartmouthSports.com
Molly Reckford is returning to the Olympics in the lightweight women's double sculls, and it's with her same partner from the 2020 Tokyo games — Michelle Sechser.
This summer's Olympics will feature lightweight rowing events for the final time, which only adds to Reckford's motivation.
"If you win the Olympics, you are the forever Olympic champion in this boat class," she said. "I'm really trying to push my limits and see what I can do when I fully dedicate myself and have enough time to develop."
Reckford is referring to three additional years of development and experience she currently owns compared to the 2020 Olympics, which took place in the summer of 2021 in Tokyo due to COVID-19.
The start of the 2024 Olympic selection process began last fall at Speed Order in Sarasota, Florida.
"It's an opportunity to show your speed before major selection begins," said Reckford.
The year, the lightweights and open weights all raced each other.
"They said you're all racing each other; the lightweights will weigh in before the race and they'll get a designation," said Reckford. "I came in third place overall, second place for lightweights."
All the racing at that point in the process was in singles. Reckford's Speed Order success, coupled with her second-place finish in the lightweight double sculls at World Cup II in 2023 in Varese, left no doubt she would be invited to Colorado Springs for altitude training camp.
"Camp is at about six and a half thousand feet of altitude," said Reckford. "We spent three weeks there training on land — on the erg on a basketball court."
Next up was Winter Speed Order in Florida, which saw Reckford win the time trial.
"That was a pretty phenomenal race," she said. "I posted the fastest time for all the women in the heats and got third place overall (fastest lightweight woman). I really pushed the pace early in the regatta, so it was a very good testament of the training I had been doing."
The next step in the Olympic qualification process featured invitations to selection camp in Florida.
"It was about a three-week process," said Reckford. "Through that camp, I was selected to the lightweight double. Michelle, my partner from Tokyo, and I posted the fastest time together and we were selected to be the Olympic boat."
Since the selection in March, Reckford and Secher have been working hard. They have been in Princeton, New Jersey with the other Olympic rowers at the USRowing Training Center.
On July 5, all the U.S. Olympics rowers are heading to Italy.
"We're headed north of Milan and we'll have around a three-week training camp there before Paris," said Reckford. "We'll get adjusted to the time and the heat. It also separates us from distractions."
What does an average day of training look like? Reckford shared one day's schedule from her time at Princeton.
The athletes were being housed in a hotel and slept with a tent over their beds, which sucks out the oxygen to mimic a high-altitude environment.
"I normally wake up around 5:45, I'm at practice around 6:45 and we meet our coaches at 7:15," she said. "Morning practice takes about two hours."
Morning practice normally features around 22 kilometers of training. After practice on her example day, Reckford had some work meetings (she works for Broadridge Financial Solutions) then an hour-long weightlifting session. Right after lunch, she also completed a 90-minute training session on the erg.
"This day featured about five hours of training," said Reckford. "I later ran to the grocery store, got some food and the women from the lightweight double, the open weight double, the single and the quad all had dinner together. We spent about an hour just hanging out, chatting and enjoying each other's company, then I was in bed around 7:30.
"Because we're in a high-volume time in our training zone, it can be brutally tough, so we need to maximize sleep."
Moving forward into the weeks leading into the Olympic Games, which begin on July 26, Reckford feels much more prepared her second time around.
"Everything was a rush for Tokyo, and I didn't have a lot of confidence," she said.
As Reckford learned, once rowers are on the water, it's like any other race. The biggest adjustment comes with handling everything surrounding the event.
"We (rowers) often don't get a lot of media attention; we're often left on our own and a lot of us like it that way," said Reckford. "In Tokyo, every time you left a race or practice, you had to walk through reporters and talk to them. It was very hard at times.
"I made a mistake in one of our races and was upset, but had to get off the water and talk to all these reporters about how I made a mistake," Reckford continued. "Being more emotionally and mentally prepared for all the non-sport things that come up is going to be really valuable."
One thing Reckford didn't realize going into Tokyo was how available resources would be.
"The recovery rooms, the dining halls and the accessibility to sports medicine, anything you could dream of that you might need was there and available to you," she said. "Part of the Olympic experience is experiencing what it feels like to be a headliner."
As Reckford said, there is nothing else in the world quite like the Olympic Village.
"Whatever you dreamed of, make it five percent better and that's the Olympic Village," she said. "There's just so much going on, there's so many people and everybody's dressed proudly representing their countries. There are all these different styles and different athletes. It's really hard to imagine how great it is until you've experienced it."
Reckford can't wait to experience it again in Paris. Hopes are high for Reckford and her doubles partner Sechser.
Reckford is most focused on the process.
"Finishing that final race knowing there's nothing else I could have given, and feeling confident that I did everything I could, that's what success will look like for me," she said. "Showing up and being able to do your best on the day is really all you can ask for.
"I want to finish that race and know that I couldn't have taken one more stroke."
