The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil — In just her first exposure to the international circuit, Emily Morley said she feels like a celebrity after all the attention she has received in treading new waters for the Bahamas at the 2016 Olympic Games.

She has accomplished her goal and is looking forward to putting the icing on the cake in her series of races on Friday.

Yesterday in the semi-final of the Women’s Single Sculls, Morley clinched her birth into the final with a third place finish at the Lagoa Stadium. She will have a few days off to relax and recuperate before she completes her debut as the first Bahamian to compete in the Olympic Games in rowing on Friday.

Morley, 22, completed the 2,000 metre race on a straight course in eight minutes and 46.09 of the Repechage - a contest in which the best-placed of those who failed to win heats compete for a place in the final - to earn her berth in the E Final with Kazakhstan’s Svetlana Germanovich, the heat winner in 8:29.18 and second place finisher Dewi Yuliawati from India, who did 8:39.95 for second place.

“The race was definitely a bit more harder than yesterday (Monday),” Morley told the media. “There was a bit of a head wind, so there was more on the legs than yesterday. But it was a good race. My start and my first 500 wasn’t my best. Today was my slowest 500, but after that I picked it up, got my pace and got my boat running the way I wanted it to. So it was good after that.”

Through the first 500m, Morley did 2:13.83 to sit in third and she remained there, despite dropping to 2:14.37 to take her to 4:28.20 at the halfway mark of 1,000. She improved over the next 500m in 2:11.30 to push her time to 6:39.50, but it was a stronger finish in a 2:06.59 split that propelled her across the line ahead of Claire Ayivon of Togo, who rounded out the field in 9:25.60 and was relegated to the F final.

“The first two minutes were a bit choppy so my blades kept hitting the water a little bit,” said Morley of her performance through the race. “But other than that, it smoothed out. There was just a gust of wind here and there, but the water was flat.”

The integrated marketing and communications major at Ithaca College in New York, who is assisted here by her coaches Becky Robinson and Beth Greene and accompanied by her family, said her goal coming here was to make a final and she will get that opportunity on Friday against five other boats and she hopes that she can make the best of it.

With a few days off to relax and recuperate, Morley said she’s going to see what it’s like to be starring in awe at all of the superstars that she’s not had a chance to focus on because her commitment to getting ready to compete.

“I feel like a star, which I’m totally not,” she said. “My boat is next to Jenny Stone, who is the women’s world champion in singles, which is really cool. So it’s so good to be a part of such elite group of women and strong women and bring the Bahamas rowing into such an elite community like this,” she insisted.

And having gotten a taste of the competition, Morley said she will be looking forward to returning to her second Olympics in Toyko, Japan in four years. In the meantime, she intend to build up body mass and apply a little more muscles to compliment her height.

“It’s a dream to be here and I hope that it helps the rowing community back in the Bahamas,” she summed up.

Of course, she’s not going to party like a rock star just yet because she still have some unfinished business to take care of on Friday.