Even with three NCAA championships and two world championships in her trophy case, rower Taylor Ritzel finds that she’s just another face in a crowd of elite hopefuls trying to earn a berth on the U.S. Olympic team for the Summer Games in London this year.
Ritzel, who is making a bid for the U.S. Olympic team by way of Douglas County High School in Castle Rock and Yale University, is at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., near San Diego. There won’t be a letup in her training, which will shift to Princeton University in March, until the members of Team USA are announced in June.
“I hope so,” Ritzel said when asked if her résumé will help her gain a place on the U.S. team, which qualified for the Olympics by winning at the world championships in August in Slovenia. “But the level of competition here is really close. Your seat on a boat can be taken away at any time.”
National women’s team coach Tom Terhaar has a direct way of gauging the competition. “Everyone here has similar credentials,” Terhaar said. “It’ll come down to who fits and who is ready physically come summer.”
Ritzel, 23, is battling injuries for the first time in her career. Since being a part of that winning team at the world championships, she has had rib injuries that have limited her in practice.
“It’s unfortunate that this has happened in an Olympic year,” Ritzel said. “The injuries have caused some anxiety, but I think I still have enough time to be close to 100 percent by June.”
Ritzel rows on the starboard side of the boat. Her goal is to be one of the top five U.S. Olympic candidates, including one alternate, when the final selections are made.
After graduating from Yale in 2010, she took a sabbatical from her ambition to start a marketing career to compete for an Olympic berth with Team USA.
Ritzel grew 8 inches, to 6-foot-3, while she was in high school. But she didn’t play basketball or volleyball. “My eye-hand coordination was abysmal,” she said.
She participated in swimming but didn’t consider being a varsity athlete at Yale when she enrolled at the Ivy League school. Coaches at Yale spotted her lanky frame and talked her into trying out for the rowing team.
Former Broncos coach Red Miller is Ritzel’s grandfather and an avid supporter. When she began her bid to make the U.S. Olympic team, Ritzel and Miller made a deal that they would meet in London this summer. Ritzel is determined to make that happen.
Miller’s support means a lot to Ritzel, who lost her mother, Lana, to breast cancer during her senior year at Yale.
“I’ve dedicated my heart and soul to making the Olympic team,” Ritzel said. “I’d be heartbroken if I don’t. I’ll give it my all.”
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
Boatload of success
Taylor Ritzel is a rower and Douglas County High School alum who competes in women’s eight. She has had national and international success:
3 NCAA championships (2007, 2008, 2010)
2 World championships (2010 at New Zealand, 2011 at Slovenia)
