London 2012: Erin Cafaro, Women's Rowing, USA

Our next London 2012 Cal athlete is Erin Cafaro, a woman's rower for team USA. While at Cal helped the Women's 8 win both the Pac-10 and NCAA Championships in 2005. She also won gold in 2008 for team USA and is looking for another one to add to her haul of awards and medals. She started her rowing career in Berkeley and her brother JD was a defensive end on the football team from 2000-04. So her Cal roots run deep! Learn more about Erin after the jump!

Erin starting rowing when she came to Cal in 2001 and quickly showed that she was really, really good at it. By the end of her first year she was on the varsity team and finished out her career at Cal with national championships in 2005 and 2006. She started rowing full time with the National Team in 2006 and continued to improve her skills, culminating with a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was selected as the 2009 Female Athlete of the Year for USA Rowing in 2009, the same year that she also won Gold Medals both in the Women’s 2- and 8+ events at the 2009 World Rowing Championships.

USA Gets 2nd in Women's Pair's Rowing - from Universal Sports (via universalsports)

Some of her accomplishments via her personal website:

2008 Olympic Gold Medalist
Crossfit Level I Certified
Member of USRowing National Team, 4 years
5 Gold Medals, 1 Bronze
Concept 2 Master Rowing Instructor
Crossfit Subject Matter Expert – Rowing
B.A. in Political Science from University of California, Berkeley
Two Time NCAA Champion 2005 and 2006– Cal Women’s Crew
2006 Cal Women’s Crew MVP
2009 World Rowing Crew of the Year
2009 USA Today Athlete of the Month
2009 USRowing Athlete of the Year

Erin Cafaro and Susan Francia Kicking Down Doors (via usrowingorg)

Erin has already qualified in the women's pair but declined that invitation to instead concentrate on securing a spot in the women's 8. It'll be tough to bet against her and her teammates picking up the gold in London, especially given Erin's continued and prolonged success. GO BEARS and GO USA!