Christine Cavallo

Nationality

USA

Height

165cm

School/high school/secondary school

Olympia High School

Club

OUWBC

Undergraduate/graduate

Graduate

Previous university

Stanford

Undergraduate course

International Relations

Graduate course

Sustainability, Enterprise and the Environment

Oxford college

St Anne’s

Why are you studying your course?

I’ve worked in climate science research and policy, and I’m motivated to bring that more directly into the private sector to create systemic change towards a net zero economy that also values equitable growth around the world.

What is the most interesting part of your course?

This is the first year the course has existed, so it has been phenomenally exciting to go through the course material as the first cohort. I particularly love the way the program has been developed: we study several of the most relevant and prescient disciplines or theories for a given problem, and then have the freedom to debate and analyse what the pathway to a net zero global economy might look like.

Year you first started rowing

2009

First rowing club

Orlando Area Rowing Society

Name of first rowing coach

Kirsten Anderson

Why/how did you get into rowing?

I was a soccer player and a track athlete but seriously hurt my knee and had to switch out of high impact and contact sports.

Who is your rowing idol?

Chris Ernst

How do you balance rowing and academic life?

Very carefully. Candidly I have been balancing it for more than a decade and balancing it during my time at Oxford has felt easier than ever before.

Who would be your dream team eight to row with from everyone in the history of rowing?

Oh gosh. Caryn Davies stroking, Kjetil Borch, then I would go by pairs. The NZ pair from 2012 Nathan Cohen and Joe Sullivan, the 2016 GB pair Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. Sinković brothers in bow. Would love for Helen and Heather’s coach Robin Williams to coach it. I would be the coxswain obviously. Please share my contact information as I am available for Head Of The Charles!

What is your rowing history, and what has been your biggest achievement so far?

I’ve raced at seven world championships for the United States. My biggest achievement so far has probably been the lightweight world record on the indoor Concept2, which I set in 2018 and was promptly broken about six months later.

Your favourite race so far?

My senior year national championship was a special one. We were up by so much by the 500 that I got to relax and enjoy the last 1500m of my undergraduate career.

Where would be your dream place to row?

Lucerne

What is the best place you have ever rowed?

The World Rowing Coastal Championships in Oeiras Portugal in 2021 was fantastic. For flat water rowing, I enjoyed the chance to train and race in Slovenia, on Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled.

What do you feel is your greatest achievement through rowing, be it accolades or something more personal?

The world records I set on the erg are objectively my greatest achievement. More selfishly, I personally believe that the people I have met through this process have been so deeply fulfilling and beneficial for me to spend time with and learn from. I’m not sure if that’s an achievement but that has the most meaning to me.

What has been your most embarrassing/funny rowing moment?

My freshman year of undergrad, I passed out with about 150m to go in the race. I don’t fully remember the event and I cannot say that it was funny at the time, but it was certainly embarrassing, and I’m far enough removed that I can chuckle at it now.

What is your favourite sports quote?

The faster you go the sooner it’s over.

How would you describe the sport to a non-rower?

You take any individual with basic athleticism and a hunger for self-competition, and loosen a few screws, and the sport speaks for itself.

What is your favourite movie about sports? Why?

She’s the Man with Amanda Bynes. I was originally a soccer player, and it has always had a special place in my heart.

How does being an athlete make you a better person?

I don’t think it does. That takes conscious work. But if you can take the valuable things about being a good athlete and a good teammate and understand how they can parallel the rest of the things in your life, I think it is hugely beneficial. High-level athletics will test your limits more than most other elements of daily life.

Why do you think someone outside of the sport can relate to your career as an athlete?

The opportunity to chase excellence or go so deeply into something and use it to explore how far you can push yourself is truly a privilege. It could happen in any number of ways, I just happened to find it through rowing.

What are your strengths, as a person and as an athlete?

I don’t understand fully the limits of my humanity. It’s part of the reason I have passed out in races, but also the reason I have been able to set records. As a person, it’s made me confident and willing to challenge systems as they exist today, in the hope that we can build them better into the future.

What do your friends think of your athletic success? How do you handle missing out on activities with friends because of your athletic schedule?

I’ve never had a friend who wasn’t supportive. If there was friction it was probably a misperception on my end, and I did have a period in my life where I would get self-conscious and struggle with what felt like a mutually exclusive choice: to either become better at my sport or be a bit more balanced in spending time with them. Elite athletics and pursuing the Olympics was particularly extreme. I found that my personal headspace is the most important factor here, and when my headspace is right and my passion and motivation is well defined, I never feel like I’m missing out because there is so much purpose in what I am doing.

Do you think you can win the Boat Race? Why?

Yes. What reason would I have not to?

Any hobbies, other interests outside rowing?

I have spent most of my free non-rowing time finding ways to stay involved in climate security and other areas that I am passionate about entering for my career. I also enjoy cycling, travelling, new restaurants and crossword puzzles.

Tell us one surprising thing about yourself. 

Since 2012 I haven’t lived anywhere for longer than 9 consecutive months.