There’s Gold in These Hills
Go, Lindsay, go. Row, Lindsay, row.
Lindsay Shoop became the first Charlottesville native in history to win an Olympic gold medal when she captured gold in rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Shoop and the other members of the U.S. women’s eight crew took first place in their event, which features eight women rowing as fast as they can in one canoe, along a straight-line course for 2,000 meters.
The European country of Romania was trying for a fourth consecutive Olympic victory in the event after winning in 1996, 2000 and 2004, but the Americans persevered to take the 2008 gold. The Netherlands won silver, while Romania took bronze.
Shoop, who rowed in college for the University of Virginia from 2002 to 2004, says she almost slipped up in China when shouting a victory chant with her teammates after winning gold.
“It was awesome to chant ‘U-S-A,’ but it was kind of funny because it reminded me of chanting ‘U-V-A’ so often in college,” she says. “I almost slipped a time or two during our celebration in Beijing.”
Shoop, 27, grew up in Charlottesville and attended Burnley-Moran Elementary School through the fourth grade. She attended The Covenant School for grades five through 12. She graduated from U.Va. with a degree in Spanish, and now lives in Princeton, N.J., to train full-time at the USRowing Training Center.
“I still get back home for the holidays and every once in a while after big competitions, so usually two or three times a year,” Shoop says. “I’ve even gotten a few of my teammates down to Charlottesville over the past few years. Every time they make it to my parents’ house, they never want to leave.”
Shoop says that even though she now lives out-of-state, she thinks of her hometown often.
“Charlottesville has scenery like no other and has the best of all the seasons. You get a little taste of all kinds of weather,” she says. “There are the mountains, hiking – plus tons of history. There is just so much that Charlottesville has given me over the last 27 years.”
So now, with an Olympic gold medal proudly in her possession, Shoop plans to stay in New Jersey for the next four years and then hopes to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. After that, she is thinking about moving to the North Carolina coast to become part of an Atlantic Ocean rescue team.
“I have thought about a career in ocean rescue since I was around 13,” she says. “The ocean is a part of my life, and that lifestyle is innate. There is nothing like the smell, sound and feel of the ocean, and it just seems like a great career for me to pursue once my competitive rowing days are over.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
