GVSU Alum Sarah Zelenka Misses Bronze Medal By 0.2 Seconds

GVSU graduate Sarah Zelenka and her teammate Sara Hendershot finished in fourth place in the women's rowing pairs final at the Olympics in England on Wednesday.

Zelenka and Hendershot were in second place until both New Zealand and Austrialia passed them at the end.  The Americans finished 0.47 seconds out of second place and 0.2 seconds from the bronze. 

Freep.com has Zelenka's comments on the race and experience:

“I mean, you say to yourself that you want that medal so bad, and you do everything you can in a race to try to get it,” said Zelenka, of Princeton, N.J. “You’re fighting back and you’re right at the end and we just missed by 0.2. We did everything we could. … Right now it hurts because it’s a fresh wound.”

Just two months ago, Zelenka felt the thrill of making the team. But it didn’t take her long to adjust her goals.“It’s amazing to make the team,” she said. “And you get here and you’re like, ‘All I want to do is have fun and get the experience.’ And then you see you’re close to medaling, and then you get greedy. “And that’s when you feel kind of upset when it doesn’t happen. I mean, we have to take a step back and look at how far we’ve come and be proud of that.”

Learn more about Sarah Zelenka and her big following at GVSU.

Congratulations Sarah on an amazing performance!