Princeton University Athletics
Senior Rower Steve Coppola Returns To Campus With Golden Touch
September 16, 2005 | Heavyweight Rowing
Sept. 16, 2005
All students return to campus following summer vacation with their own stories. Few, if any, will be able to match the ones Steve Coppola can tell. The senior member of the Princeton heavyweight crew represented the Red, White and Blue, and did it in Golden style.
Coppola, who helped lead Princeton to a second-place finish at the IRA national championships in 2005, got a taste of victory when he was part of the U.S. squad at the World Championships, which concluded the first weekend in September in Gifu, Japan.
"Its an amazing feeling to be able to represent my country in the highest level of sport," Coppola said, "especially after winning and seeing "Old Glory" being raised high and hearing our national anthem being played over the loud speaker. I think it will be a memory that I will carry for the rest of my life. Hopefully I'll get to hear it again."
The United States, which claimed the 2004 title, started in lane four and held a half-second lead on Russia after 500 meters. The lead stayed that way midway through the race, but the Russian crew soon tailed off and was replaced by the Italian crew, which trailed the Americans by .62 of a second with 500 meters remaining.
It wasn't to get closer, as a strong American sprint gave the team a 1.26-second lead when it crossed the finish line and claimed the gold medal.
Coppola will now turn his focus back to the collegiate waters, where Princeton will resume its chase of Harvard for the Eastern and IRA championships next spring.