Danika Holbrook started rowing as “a scrawny 100lb little eleven year old.” Less than a decade later she went on to stroke the US lightweight coxless four to a World Championship Gold Medal. Now, after six years away from rowing, she has changed her life dramatically in order to make a comeback and train for the 2004 Olympics.

Holbrook’s rowing career began in 1983 when, at the age of ten, she followed her older sister down to the Durham Boat Club in her hometown of Durham, New Hampshire. She started there, competing in both sculls and sweeps. Holbrook had a successful junior career, winning national championships in single, double, quad and pair, and making the 1990 Junior World Team in the four.

At Princeton, Holbrook made a successful transition to eights. During her first collegiate season, she was the seventh seat in the boat that won the Novice eight (person) collegiate championship. The following year, Holbrook stroked the junior varsity eight to a collegiate championship for Princeton. She also made the national team, and stroked the US National lightweight four to a world championship bronze medal.

Her years of hard work finally paid off in 1994. That year, she was the seventh seat on the boat that won the varsity collegiate championship. She also was on top of the world after stroking the US national four to a World Championship gold medal! Holbrook finished her collegiate career in 1995 with another varsity eight collegiate championship.

After graduation from Princeton with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Holbrook retired from competitive rowing, and pursued a career in the pharmaceutical industry. She took a job in California, where she was able to enjoy other outdoor sports. However, after six years of retirement from rowing, Holbrook ecided to revive her Olympic dream. In order to pursue this dream, she made great changes to her life. Last year, she left her life and job in California and moved to Princeton, NJ, a national team training site. When she left for Princeton, she had neither a place to stay nor a job, but has since found both. Holbrook recently switched to a part-time job at a medical writing company in order to accommodate her intense training schedule. She stroked the women’s quadruple sculls at the 2002 and 2003 World Championships, placing 7th and 6th respectfully. After the 2004 Olympics she hopes to return to school and earn an advanced degree in exercise physiology.

Being the underdog has always been my favorite position. Coming from behind, having all odds against me and then blowing the competition out of the water, that’s my favorite tactic. Surprise! Even now switching from light weight to heavy weight; sculler to sweep oarswoman and back to sculler; then coming out of a six years retirement, I’m not ’supposed’ to do well. I’ve already turned a few doubters’ heads and I’ve only just begun. After my first two weeks back on the water in six years, I pulled in a 3rd place finish at this year’s fall US Speed Orders… it was a good start.

For me, rowing began back in 1983 as a scrawny 100-pound little 11 year old who followed her big sister down to the boat house to ask the coaches if “I can row too?” Maybe they thought my 6′4″ father would produce an equally statuesque daughter, who knows, but they said yes.

That year I managed to hold my own among the other novice juniors and proceeded to my first racing season the following spring. After a thoroughly humiliating dead last finish at my first regatta, Stotesbury Cup, I was determined to show everyone, mostly myself, I was made of more. It didn’t help that the rest of the three women, three man team walked away with six gold medals. Following that, training took on a whole new meaning; my next showing would be different.

The next race was none other than the highly competitive (joking here) NEIRA’s (New England Interscholastic Rowing Association regatta). When the championship singles race was called I carried my boat down to the launching area, successfully being dwarfed by my 11 inch wide, 21 foot long racing shell. As you might imagine I looked like nothing to be reckoned with.

While placing my boat in the water I over heard the next rower’s coach pumping up her little oarswoman with the all enraging statement: “Look at her (nodding in my direction), you can certainly beat her.” It was all I needed; I was ready to pull. As I was still very much a novice, the warm up primarily consisted of trying to keep my blades off the water, playing with some higher ratings (I cranked it up to a whooping 28) and doing my best not to flip. At the start I was nervous as hell and the finish line looked miles away, I didn’t know if I could do it. Then I saw the girl next to me, and the others alongside her - so much bigger, so much older, so composed, so not going to beat me…. When the starting call was made I shot out as fast as my skinny little arms could propel me. It hurt, oh how it hurt, but I saw them, all five of them, so quickly behind me. I was flying! I pulled harder. By the first five hundred I had everyone’s bow ball. By the thousand, I had an easy three-boat length lead on the field. By the fifteen hundred-meter mark the rest had died and fallen back, I just kept on pulling. I’d never felt so free, so energized… in so much pain, but it was my race and I was going to win. I flew over the last five hundred, cruised across the finish line and collapsed in my oversized boat, purple faced and happy as I’d ever been. I couldn’t believe it, I’d won and by a landslide.

Now typically winning a race by a curvature of the earth does not make for the most exhilarating experience, but for a little girl who’d never felt the power of success - this was the most amazing, thrilling moment of my life. I was addicted. It didn’t hurt that I’d broken the course record or got to take home a pair of tulip shaped, bronze tipped, antique oars to hang on my wall. I was now a true rower and, as far as I can tell, will be one for the rest of my life.