Beijing Bound | If in '04 you don't succeed, make the boat in '08

by Neil Fanaroff and Neil Fanarof | Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 1:00 am

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Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, once summed up his opinions on the Games in a legendary quote.

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part."

It took eight years on the National Team and a missed qualification for the 2004 Athens Games, but 2002 College graduate Tom Paradiso is set to take part in the Olympics as a member of the United States rowing team in the lightweight four event.

"I think in '04 I didn't have the capacity in the physical sense, I just wasn't a strong enough rower," he said. "I think that the time I put in between 2004 and now has just been of the highest quality. I have been able to make the gains I needed to make it into the boat for this Olympics."

He began rowing his freshman year at the Chestnut Hill Academy outside Philadelphia. Four years later, he joined the heavyweight rowing team at Penn, choosing the school for its location, coaching staff and recent rowing success.

During his junior year, he consulted with then-head coach Stan Bergmann about how best to pursue the sport further. He ended up attending an under-23 national camp for the lightweight eight boat, as he had always been one of the smaller heavyweight rowers.

At the camp, Paradiso's future success began to take shape.

"I ended up making that boat," he said. "It was a bit of a longshot based on my erg [rowing fitness] score. I went back to the lightweight eight the following year and have been on the team every year since."

However, the lightweight eight is not an Olympic event, so only four members of the team could make the '04 Athens Games.

Paradiso, who in 2003 injured his back and in early 2004 cracked a rib, cites the injuries and his fitness level as the likely reasons for his exclusion. He managed to turn it into a positive, setting his eyes on qualifying for the Beijing boat.

"It was a great opportunity for me to see what I needed to fix," he said. "When I started, my erg score was not quite up to par. My technical level was much higher, relatively, than my fitness level."

Improving on that fitness level has been a constant goal for Paradiso ever since. It has consumed his training, his diet and even his rest. He's sure to listen to his body and relax it when sore to ensure no injuries leading up to this year's Games.

His training has elevated to incredible levels. He has been at the U.S. Training Center in Princeton, N.J. since 2005, but the buildup to this year's Lightweight Four Selection Camp was the most intense.

"We came back from [the World Championships in] Germany, had a week and a half off and then pretty much jumped right into the hardest training I've ever done in my entire life," he said. "The most miles I've rowed, the most practice sessions in a week that I've ever done and just the most tired I've ever been."

And that still paled in comparison to the workouts at the Camp. Of the eight rowers struggling to make the four-person boat, four will likely retire after this summer. Thus, all the rowers were "throwing everything on the line pretty much every practice."

The training got so intense that, when the coach finally informed Paradiso that he had made the team, he was equally as stunned as relieved.

"It felt a little like Groundhog Day, where you wake up, eat, row, race, come home, rest. Relax, maybe go for a row, come home, eat, sleep, wake up, and repeat," he said of the Camp. "There was definitely a sense of relief afterwards, but it was almost a little shellshock. It was 16 days of pretty much the most intense practices ever and then it was over."

Now, the training continues, in a more unique manner. The World Championships will be held next week in Austria for non-Olympic events, including the lightweight men's eight.

The eight rowers who were at the camp are training for that while the four who made the Olympic team practice for both events. Thus, the team is dividing their practice between the two events, something Pradiso believes is unprecedented.

The team will fly to Austria, compete in the Worlds, and then head to Beijing. That way, they cut down the one-shot travel time and should be less jet-lagged.

And now that he has made the boat, he can focus on succeeding in an event in which the U.S. has not had much success. He is setting his goals somewhat modestly, though.

"The semifinals are where we've stumbled," he said. "I think this year's goal is getting through the semifinals into the final. Once you get to the final, anything could happen. We have the capacity to row as a medal-level crew; whether or not we can execute, we'll find out."

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