The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunermedia.net

RIO de Janeiro, Brazil: In the rain, Emily Morley closed out of her initial historic Olympic Games experience with a sixth place finish in the E final of the Women's Single Sculls on Friday at the Lagoa Stadium.

Morley, making history as the first Bahamian to compete in a rowing event and the first to join her father in a different sport at the world's biggest sporting stage, clocked eight minutes and 56.36 seconds.

She started her splits with 2:14.96 in the first 500m, but was already out of contention in the straight 2,000 metre race after getting off to a very slow start. At the 1,000m, her time was 4:30.05 and she came through the 1,500m in 6:45.73.

Yi-Tang Huang of Chinese Taipei was the gold medallist in 8:34.53, followed by Svetlana Germanocvich of Kazakhstan with the silver in 8:38.25. Phultanaraksa Neegree of Thailand took the bronze in 8:41.34.

Although she wasn't in the medal hunt, Morley said she enjoyed her experience here and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

"It was good. It was a little bouncy so it was catching my blade, so not my best race, but I put everything into it and I kept pushing through," Morley told The Tribune. "It wasn't my best race, but not my worst."

The rainy conditions obviously played a factor in her performance, but Morley admitted that all of the competitors had to endure it.

"The wind was pretty strong out there with a head wind, so it was like weightlifting out there," she pointed out. "But you have to come out here and get ready to compete in all kinds of weather."

Now that it's over and done with, Morley said she can let her hair down and enjoy what Rio has to offer with her family, who have been here throughout the week supporting her.

"It was an experience of a lifetime and I hope anybody who wants to do rowing can experience it," she said. "It's kind of sad thinking that it could be my last time in a boat, so I'm not done yet."

At age 22, Morley said she still has a bright future ahead of her. She's just delighted that she was the second Bahamian in her family to compete on the big stage, joining her father, David, who represented the Bahamas in swimming at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

She intends to continue her studies at Ithaca College in New York where she's studying Integrated Marketing and Communications, while working out with coaches Becky Robinson and Beth Greene, who accompanied her here.

But if she's not back in the water competing in 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, she's hoping that she will be able to assist one or two more Bahamians to follow in her footsteps in rowing.