Representing Team USA, Michael Grady and his three boatmates won gold in the men’s coxless four rowing competition this month during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. It was the team’s second Olympic competition and the first time the U.S. has won gold in the competition since 1960.
Grady, 27, grew up in the North Allegheny School District but graduated in 2015 from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh where he got his start in rowing. Grady spoke with WESA's Glynis Board about the win, the sport, and the mentality of an Olympian.
Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Michael Grady: I grew up being a fairly athletic kid. My parents kind of joked that I was born with a six pack. You know, I played every sport that was offered to me. I wanted to try everything and try to find something that I just didn't want to give up. And, I thought I had it with lacrosse and football. You know, hitting people was fun, but I hit some people a little too hard. And that's kind of a little scary. So my dad, when he was 40, decided to start rowing. He said I should give it a try. I decided to try the crew team at Central Catholic and I never really looked back.
Glynis Board: There are three rivers in Pittsburgh, but it feels like these rivers aren't always calm enough for rowing. What are the conditions like?
Like any body of water — since it is an outdoor sport — it can be a bit temperamental at times. Whether it's windy or it rains really hard — Pittsburgh tends to get a lot of rain at times — that will increase what we call “flow,” cubic meters per second of water. And, when that happens, yeah, it's a little more difficult to kind of find a good place to row, but I never really had too many issues.
Central Catholic rowed out of the Millville boathouse right next to Washington's Landing. And, there were a few times where there was flooding and times where we couldn't really row on the Allegheny. So we trailored our boats over and, what we do, it's called “wet launching” where you have to like, wade into the water, put your boat in, hop into the boat. And we'd do that when it was like, you know. Really cold, you know, like, like in March or something. Yeah, it's not always a pretty lifestyle.
Tell us then a little bit about your experience in Paris. Tell us about that race. What were the conditions like on the water and what were the conditions like in your head?
That was probably the most fair racing could have been, because it was what we call almost like neutral conditions where, you know, maybe there is a little bit of wind, but it's not enough to have a true impact. You know, I think we got lucky with the day of the heat in terms of conditions as well, but, my head was pretty clear. You know, it is my second Olympics. I know, I knew going into it I could trust everything that I have done, in the training, I can trust my boat mates. Still, there's nervous energy, but it's good to kind of harbor the nervous energy. So, yeah, pretty I mean pretty standard at this point for me in my career. You know, 13 years later into rowing.
When did you know that you'd won?
As I crossed the line, obviously. But I had a good feeling about 600m to go. New Zealand kind of started closing in on us, so to say. But, I knew that we had another gear, maybe even two to go. So, sure, they kind of made a big push there. And, we responded and kind of moved right back out. And it was like as soon as we started moving back out, I knew it was kind of set in stone. That I would, you know, be an Olympic champion.
Can you tell me a little bit about what it's like pulling with three others? I mean, how do you connect without a coxswain calling the shots?
It takes a little bit more trust and a little bit. Of, kind of a discussion on how to communicate. So we have a bunch of key phrases, 1 or 2 syllables, maybe 1 or 2 words that describe action or a feeling that we're kind of going for.
I do a lot of the talking during the race, and I sit right behind Liam, who sets the rhythm, and then the guys behind me can hear because I'm, you know, able to kind of speak up. But really everyone is kind of communicating just saying, “Hey, like, I'm right there with you. Everything's good.” You know, just kind of give reassurance. But, I do a lot of the race planning and technical aspects.
So you said that you play lots of different sports. How does rowing compare? Where does it land within your experiences of team sports as far as the satisfaction of being on a team?
Rowing is the ultimate team sport. Because there's no individual stat lines. Like many other sports there's batting average, there's shooting percentage, whether it's like basketball or, you know, how many goals you score in soccer or how many touchdowns you throw for in football. There's so many individual stat lines that can measure up. But with rowing, you're in a boat and you get one thing and that's time in placement. So did you win the race or did you not? Did you go really fast or were you pretty slow that day? So, it kind of raises the level of communion and synchronicity between you and your teammates. You know, these guys aren't my brothers, but the three guys in that boat forever are my brothers from here on out.
At your level, more than a decade into your rowing career, do you ever catch a crab? Maybe you can explain what that is.
Catching a crab. It's when you're rowing along and since you have these oars that have levers on the end of them with a bunch of surface area, if it gets caught on some water, it can get taken by the force of the water and the momentum of the boat. And just all of a sudden it'll try to scrape the bottom of whatever body of water you're on. It will kind of send the oar really quickly into your body. And it can knock you out of the boat. I've seen it knock people unconscious.
Just this year I actually caught a crab. I was just kind of, like, not paying attention. And, a big wake came and my blade just got sucked under, and I caught a crab. And it's like, wow. You know, like I'm what, eight months out from the Olympics? And I just got hit in the head by my oar. I haven't done that since, you know, high school. So yeah, it certainly happens. It happens to the best of us.
You know, you've done something here that you worked so hard to achieve. Do you have any advice for other people out there trying to do hard things?
Yeah. It's okay to accept defeat at times, but it's really important to never mentally defeat yourself prior to engaging in the activity.
I kind of had a joke this summer that – it turned out not to be a joke. But I would walk around to my teammates and say, “keep the energy up,” “stay positive, keep the energy up,” just trying to — no matter what the situation was — hyping my teammates up and try having them try to smile. And just being kind of like, honestly an overbearing positive person. I'd be saying keep the energy up even when I was in a bad mood or I didn't want to go to training. But as soon as I would say it, it would flip a switch and then it's like: okay, I really want to do this. I'm ready to train today. I'm ready for the positivity. I'm ready to travel. I'm ready to do the stuff that really sucks.
So, the mental approach to life is key.
