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After taking gold in London, Esther Lofgren and her teammates from the U.S. women's squad have been on a whirlwind tour, most recently attending the Philadelphia premiere of the new feature film, Backwards , written, produced, and directed by Sarah Megan Thomas (who also plays one of the lead roles). Here, Esther shares a little about her experience of the premiere, which included a meeting with Thomas, as well as her thoughts on the film. Read on! Thursday night, I headed to the Philadelphia Art Museum – as famous for the "Rocky" steps out front as the amazing collection inside – for the red carpet premiere of Backwards . Joining me were teammates Sara Hendershot , from the Olympic pair, and Adrienne Martelli and Megan Kalmoe , Olympic bronze medallists in the quad. We decided to have fun with our first red carpet, and borrowed designer dresses for the occasion. I even managed to find one that was floor-length while wearing four-inch heels  We arrived on the red ...

This week's video features more slow-motion rowing with Olympians, again with a solid soundtrack, produced by the Dutch men's eight as they trained for London 2012. The video shows the crew from multiple angles throughout each part of the stroke (with views showing both the bodies and the bladework), making it a very useful coaching tool, as well as another example of fine technical rowing from an Olympic-caliber crew. In keeping with our last few videos, it was shot in Varese, Italy – certainly the place to be outside of Eton Dorney in 2012! Also, recently spotted back on Oakland Estuary was Dutch seven seat (and former Cal Bear) Olivier Siegelaar ( pictured here along with another former Bear, Spencer Crowley ), who has been training at CRC. Want to suggest the next 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestion via Twitter (twitter.com/rowingrelated), or get in touch via our Facebook page . -RR

The above race video shows Alexandra Tsiavou (stroke) and her partner in the lightweight women's double, Christina Giazitzidou (bow), making yet another podium appearance in the 2012 season – this time racing to a silver medal at the European Championships in Varese, Italy. The combination has been the most successful women's lightweight crew over the past several seasons, consistently placing among the medals, but no individual lightweight athlete has been as successful as Alexandra Tsiavou (our RoRy winner for Female Athlete at the Elite Level in 2011). In fact, to find the last time that Tsiavou entered an international race without coming away with a medal, you have to go back to the final of the lightweight women's double in Beijing , when Tsiavou (just 23 years of age at the time) and then partner Chrisi Biskitzi placed sixth overall. Since then, Tsiavou has been on an absolute tear. After winning the world championship title for the second time in three years ...

London was a wild ride. Now what? (Photo: © B. Kitch) In the wake of the 2012 Olympic Games, USRowing announced some changes to the coaching staff and structure of the national team. While it has not yet been publicly acknowledged, the first of the major moves was USRowing's split with men's head coach Tim McLaren , following the bronze medal performance of the men's four in London (this much is clear from what claims to be a letter from Glenn Merry to the athletes, posted to the Rowing Illustrated boards ). The next move was the hiring of former Princeton University head coach Curtis Jordan  as the new USRowing High Performance Director. Finally, USRowing officially announced that Tom Terhaar would be returning to the U.S. team for the next quadrennium earlier this week. What does all this mean? First, while McLaren did well to medal in what was an extremely competitive event at Eton Dorney, clearly, there were larger issues at play given the performance of the U.S. m...

The above training video (which includes a solid, bass-heavy dubstep soundtrack sure to be popular with the UW Huskies ), we get a slow-motion glimpse of a number of Olympic medalists training on the water, via stern-mounted GoPro cameras. Among those featured are Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan of the men's double, and Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh of the women's pair. Like the video of the Australian women's eight that we posted on Friday, this gives athletes and coaches alike a good reference point for technique as the 2012-2013 season begins. To view the epic final of the men's double, which saw the Kiwi men come back from fourth place entering the final 500m to take their third consecutive gold at the world level (and, perhaps even more importantly, earned them our coveted RoRy for Race of the Year at the Elite Level ), check out the video below: http://youtu.be/KC_OcudRnKc (Check out the above links, and you'll find that's four videos in o...

The above video, posted to Nick Garratt's YouTube Channel , is a fine example of precision and patience on the recovery, and a solid role model for fall training. It's that time of year again, when we lay the foundations both technically and physiologically for the new season, and while the bladework may not be 100% perfect, the bodies are moving very well together and the run is not diminished by the slide. Also, the drill–a double pause–is being performed without the coxswain making any calls, forcing the rowers to be fully switched-on and focused on the movements of their teammates. "Hearing the boat sing," as Göran Buckhorn might say. While this video was shot prior to the 2012 Olympics, it's also a glimpse of Varese, Italy, where the European Rowing Championships are currently in full swing. For more on the Euro Champs, check out the newly added News column on the right side of the page, which features our top picks for current articles and results. It...

The Princeton Tigers got the 2012-2013 season started with a bang at the Spartan Race , battling through a brutal race course and adverse weather conditions–and having a great time doing it. The above video is the latest in a great series on the Princeton Crew YouTube Channel . The Tiger heavyweight squad headed to Vernon, New Jersey for the Tri-State Super Spartan, and, minutes after the race began, a thunderstorm rolled in and shut down the festivities...or did it? To quote the video, "'Quit' is not in the Princeton Crew lexicon." Well done Tigers, and good luck in the upcoming season! Things are just getting underway in much of the rowing world, and we're looking forward to another solid year of training, racing and analysis here at RowingRelated. See you there, RR

This week's video comes to us from the South African Olympic squad's Matthew Brittain , and follows the RSA LM4- during training prior to their gold medal performance at Eton Dorney. The video includes work at steady state as well as race pace footage, where it's easy to see why this was a crew to be reckoned with in London. Given their outstanding result on Dorney Lake, we gave them our coveted RoRy for Breakthrough Performance of the Year at the Elite Level , and look forward to seeing South African rowing continue to rise to new heights in the wake of this inspirational achievement. You can watch the final of the lightweight men's four on the official YouTube Channel of the Olympics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNl-cdY0lko (Skip to 9:00 for the beginning of the LM4- race, following the finals of the men's double.) Want to suggest the next 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestion vi...

Today marks the final day of the 2012 RoRys, and the time to celebrate the best performances and most outstanding athletes on the international rowing circuit in an Olympic year. It was a fantastic Olympic Rowing Regatta–indeed, given the amount of history that was made and records that were broken, it may have been the best one to date. And so, without further ado, we present to you the 2012 RoRy winners at the elite level: RoRy for 'Programme' of the Year Great Britain, Jurgen Grobler, David Tanner Last year's winners, and deserving winners in 2012, the home team at the London Olympics performed better than any GB Olympic Rowing Team in history, collecting nine medals in total, four of them gold. With the likes of Heather Stanning and Helen Glover in the women's pair, Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins in the double, an excellent lightweight program (indeed, all GB lightweight boats scored silver or better at Eton Dorney), and a heavyweight showdown in the me...

Day two of the 2012 RoRys celebrates the best of the best in collegiate rowing, and this year we've divided the awards into two separate categories, for varsity and club teams. There were a number of phenomenal races and outstanding performances during the intercollegiate racing season this year, so picking out only a few is quite a challenge! However, we must be selective, and so, here are the 2012 RoRy winners at the collegiate level: RoRys for Varsity Programs of the Year The University of Washington Men Yes, we picked Harvard to win the IRA this year, but maybe that's just the kind of motivation that the Huskies needed to take a second-consecutive title, along with an unprecedented sixth straight Ten Eyck trophy this year. Not only did the Huskies have dominant speed from top to bottom (setting a new course record in the frosh eight event), their performance in the varsity eight was nothing short of amazing, crushing the final in a time of 5:21.482–just over two seco...

Today marks the first of three straight days celebrating the top performances and most influential people in rowing this year, at the junior, collegiate and elite levels. It was an outstanding year for our sport, with the Olympics and Paralympics crowning a season of racing 2012 jam-packed with amazing stories and close finishes. And so, without further ado, here are the 2012 RoRys for the Junior Level! RoRys for Programs of the Year Marin Men The Marin Rowing Association junior men are now back-to-back RoRy winners in the Program of the Year category, after another undefeated season in the varsity eight, and two more national titles in the varsity and lightweight eights in Oak Ridge. Men's head coach Graham Willoughby has set up a system that continues to deliver, and the 2011-2012 season certainly backed up a breakthrough campaign the year before. Oakland Strokes Women Under the guidance of head coach Derek Byrnes, the Oakland Strokes women's squad absolutely put on...

If you haven't yet seen this one, you'll be glad we made it our Video Of The Week! Some great work from Kiwi comedians Jono and Ben, following the outstanding performance of Rowing New Zealand at the Olympic Games in London. "How many dudes you know row like this? How many dudes got a 'mo' like this?" Evidently Eric Murray (he of the 'mo') saw the video, and even quoted some of the lyrics when he visited the Jono and Ben at Ten . While selecting the winners of the prestigious RoRys is never an easy task, this year may prove even more difficult than the last given the fantastic racing all summer at the junior, collegiate and elite levels! Want to suggest the next 'Video Of The Week?' Shoot us an email at rowingrelated [at] gmail [dot] com, send us your suggestion via Twitter ( twitter.com/rowingrelated ), or get in touch via our Facebook page. -RR