Erin Jane Cafaro (born June 9, 1983, in Modesto, California) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in the women's eight. At the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

she won her second consecutive gold medal in the

women's eight An eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing (crew). It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or "cox". Each of the eight rowers has one oar. The rowers, who sit ...

Career

Cafaro began her rowing career as a novice at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 2001. She went on to make the NCAA team her freshman year, and to win the Women's NCAA Rowing Championships in both 2005 and 2006. In the summer of 2005, Cafaro competed for US Rowing U23 Team in the Women's 4- at the Amsterdam, Netherlands FISA U23 World Championships, where the team won gold. Starting in the summer of 2006 Cafaro began training full-time with the US Rowing National Team. She won a bronze medal in Eton, England at the FISA World Rowing Championships in 2006 and a gold medal in Munich, Germany at the FISA World Rowing Championships in 2007, both in the Women's 4- event. Cafaro competed for the United States in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, and 2012 Olympic Games in London, England where she and her teammates brought home the gold medals in the Women's 8+ event. Beijing was the first time the United States Olympic Team has won the gold in the Women's 8+ event in the full 2000m race. In 2009 Cafaro won gold medals both in the Women's 2- and 8+ events at the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland. This was the first time in US Rowing history that the W2- pair has won the gold medal in an international championship, much less two gold medals in two Olympic events in the same year at the same regatta. Cafaro and her pair partner, Susan Francia were awarded 2009 FISA World Crew of the Year for their performances at the World Rowing Championships, as well as being named USA Today's Athletes of the Month. Erin was also awarded the Female Athlete of the Year award for 2009 by her teammates and coaches on the US Rowing National Team. During her training in the 2008 Olympic year, Cafaro discovered

CrossFit CrossFit is a branded fitness regimen that involves constantly varied functional movements performed at high intensity. The method was developed by Greg Glassman, who founded CrossFit with Lauren Jenai in 2000, with CrossFit its registered trad ...

, and incorporated the training ideologies, concepts and workouts into her full-time, year round rowing program. Starting 2009 Cafaro started touring the world as a Crossfit Rowing Subject Matter Expert for Concept 2, coaching CrossFit coaches and athletes on their technique and training on the Concept 2 ergometer. After retiring from rowing in 2012, Cafaro became VP of Operations fo
3Fu3l
a startup sports supplement company. She transitioned into coaching full-time for Concept 2 and Unscared, Inc. starting 2014. In 2014 Cafaro and human performance coach and NYT Best Selling Author Brian MacKenzie created the sports performance compan
Power Speed Endurance
in 2016. Cafaro managed operations for PSE for 2 years. Cafaro pivoted away from the sports performance world into the research and mental wellness space beginning of 2018. She began as a Clinical Coordinator on a research project on fear, anxiety and therapeutic interventions at th
Huberman Lab
in the Stanford School of Medicine Dept. of Neurobiology. Currently, Cafaro is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at

The Wright Institute The Wright Institute is a private graduate school focused on psychology and located in Berkeley, California. History The institute was founded by Nevitt Sanford in 1968 when he left Stanford. Dr. Sanford first gained prominence as a co-author of ...

in Berkeley, CA specializing in neuropsychology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafaro, Erin Living people 1983 births American female rowers Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rowing Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Modesto, California World Rowing Championships medalists for the United States 21st-century American women

Career

See also

References