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Daly: Disappointment and hope

Will Daly
Vail, CO Colorado
Special to the DailyVail's Will Daly, second from the right, and the U.S. men's lightweight four team fell short in Friday's semifinals but will race for seventh place today.
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Editor’s note; A Vail native, Will Daly is a part of the U.S. lightweight men’s four team competing at the Summer Olympics. He has been sending us dispatches from China on his thoughts on the competition. For updates on Daly, check out vaildaily.com.

We had a very tough race (Friday) and did not make it to the “A final,” but we still have the “B final” today.

We still have a chance to do better than the boat did four years ago in Athens, Greece, which was ninth, so that is what we are going to try and do. It is hard to get psyched up for a race after not making it to the “A final,” but we know we still have something to prove and we have an opportunity to do it.



It is frustrating knowing that you are the fastest boat in the United States and yet making it through the regatta is such a struggle. But we are not alone in this struggle. There were a lot of upsets (Friday) in our event and others.

No one thought the Dutch, the Polish, or the Canadians would make it to the final, while Australia, China, and Germany did not. It is not easy for anyone.

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If you take one bad stroke, that’s all it takes to be out of it. I have raced against one of the Dutch guys in college and we both started racing internationally at the same time and always in the same events, so I know I will be pulling for them when I watch the “A final” on Sunday.


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