For Portia (Johnson) McGee, the 2007 FISA World Rowing Championships became a whirlwind week as she was thrust into racing two events in Munich due to the last-minute injury of a teammate in women’s pair.
The three-time senior national team member, who was scheduled to race in the bow of the women’s four, jumped into the bow of the women’s pair just two days before the start of competition after Megan Cooke suffered an injury. By the time Saturday’s finals were complete, McGee had won a gold medal in the women’s four and won the B final in the women’s pair, finishing seventh overall and earning the United States an Olympic berth in the event.
In addition to her performance at the world championships, McGee’s 2007 racing season included winning a gold medal in the women’s eight at the FISA World Cup race in Lucerne, Switzerland, and winning gold in the women’s eight and women’s four at the 2007 USRowing National Championships. In recognition of her accomplishments, McGee’s teammates voted her USRowing’s 2007 Female Athlete of the Year.
“It’s a little overwhelming and a little embarrassing,” McGee said. “It’s such a team sport. It’s hard to be singled out and recognized when every person in the boat matters so much. I’ve been rowing a long time. This summer was an awesome experience, and this award means an incredible amount to me. The fact that the team votes for it makes it even more special.
“It also makes me really proud of all the people who have supported me. Rowing at this level in this country is the ultimate family sport. Most people would say that someone, or a group of people, has been really behind them. For me, that’s been my parents, friends and coaches in college, the Murphys. It’s been a team effort from the day I started rowing on the national team.”
McGee began rowing as an eighth grader at Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center. Her mother, Priscilla Fitzhugh, rowed at Conibear Rowing Club under legendary University of Washington coach Dick Erickson in the early 1980s. McGee remembers going to races like the San Diego Crew Classic to watch her mother row. Her father, Ken Johnson, wasn’t a rower, focusing his sporting attention on sailing. But, McGee said he was a “super sports fan,” traveling to the regattas and renting video cameras to tape races. Eventually, he took up rowing and now rows at Mt. Baker and ergs at home.
Growing up, McGee played soccer and had little interest in rowing, but during the fall of her eighth-grade year, she and a friend went down to Mt. Baker. McGee was standing on the right side of the dock, so she became a starboard, the side she still rows today.
“I had incredible coaches in high school,” she said. “We worked pretty hard for a high school team. I came in with a really good group of girls who were really into it. It was a pretty serious program. Hard work was really rewarded. They loved that I liked to pull hard. I was a total disaster, but I loved to pull.”
During her high school career, Johnson kept pulling hard and developed the technical skill to go with it. She helped Mt. Baker win three consecutive junior women’s eight titles at the USRowing Youth Invitational from 1995-97 and went on to make two junior national teams, finishing seventh in the four at the 1996 FISA World Junior Championships and winning a bronze medal as seven-seat of the eight at the 1997 FISA World Junior Championships. Her future husband, Lucas McGee, rowed seven-seat in the junior men’s eight that year. Portia and Lucas, a four-time senior national team member, were married in the fall of 2006.
Despite being a Seattle native, McGee headed east for college to Brown University. At Brown, she won national titles in the varsity eight in 1999 and 2000, while winning silver medals in the four with coxswain in 1998 and varsity eight in 2001.
“Brown was incredible,” McGee said. “We had an awesome class and a really good class ahead of me. There was nobody on the team that was off the charts. There was a pretty tight group of us on the erg. Then there were people who were really good trainers, people who were really good racers, and people who could set the rhythm really well. There were about 10 of us who really attacked it for three of four years. That time just added to my desire to be the best and be as good as I could be. John and Phoebe Murphy just always set the bar a little higher.”
After her sophomore year, McGee made the 1999 Nation’s Cup (the precursor to the Under 23 World Championships) lineup in the women’s four under then-women’s coach Hartmut Buschbacher, winning a bronze medal. After taking the summer off in 2000, McGee said she wasn’t sure if she would continue the national team path going into her senior season at Brown.
“I didn’t think I was going to continue rowing with the way the situation was with Hartmut down in San Diego,” McGee said. “I just felt like it was huge people with huge erg scores, and it wasn’t a situation that I would benefit from or get a chance in. But everything changed after 2000.”
Following the 2000 Olympics, USRowing replaced Buschbacher with Tom Terhaar, and McGee decided to see how the new system would work. Once again, she made the Nation’s Cup four, this time winning the silver medal. The next year, McGee made her first senior national team, competing in the pair at the 2002 FISA World Championships in Seville, Spain.
Although McGee and Megan Dirkmaat finished a disappointing 12th in Seville, McGee had made an Olympic-class boat, and she wanted to use that as a stepping-stone.
“I didn’t really start thinking about the Olympics until I made the pair in 2002,” McGee said. “Reaching the goal of making the team and then not having it go the way I wanted it to – that wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t going to leave it there.”
McGee continued to pursue rowing at the top level but failed to make the squad in 2003 and 2004. At the 2004 Olympic Trials, she rowed with Liane Malcos in the women’s pair, finishing second in the best two-out-of-three final by 0.23 seconds in the first final and 0.52 seconds in the second final after leading both races. McGee said barely missing the team in 2004 had a huge impact on her. She has gone over the races in her head many times, wondering where they lost their chance to make the team. “Maybe it’s pushed me further in the sport not having made it (in 2004), but it certainly has stuck with me as a major pit in my stomach,” McGee said.
After not competing during the 2005 season, she decided to give it another shot in 2006. “I hadn’t done what I wanted to do and what I thought I was capable of doing,” she said.
Upon returning, McGee made the women’s four and won a bronze medal with Rachel Jeffers, Erin Cafaro and Esther Lofgren at the 2006 FISA World Championships. This year, she was in selection for the women’s eight until the final day, ending up in the four with Jeffers, Cafaro and Dirkmaat. Coming into the world championships, her goal was to win the four. But, she quickly had to switch her focus after being added to the pair. McGee was back in an Olympic-class boat that the U.S. needed to qualify for the Olympics.
“I knew (the four) would be a fun boat and a really fast boat, but it ultimately wasn’t where I wanted to be. There was another step that I hadn’t been able to attain,” McGee said. “Worlds was a weird, crazy thing because it allowed me to hopefully bridge that gap and show that I could be compatible and competitive at the world championships. It was a hard circumstance (to go into the pair) because it was someone else’s seat and dream who I really respect, but for me, it was an opportunity.”
After only a couple of practices together, McGee and Mickelson hit the water for the heat, finishing third to advance directly to the semifinals. In the semifinal, the duo finished fourth, missing a spot in the final by less than one second.
However, McGee and Mickelson came back and won the B final, defeating the defending world champions from Canada to finish seventh overall. More importantly, they earned the U.S. a 2008 Olympic berth in the pair. Less than two hours after the B final, McGee came back to win gold in the final of the women’s four.
“I woke up that morning thinking that it was one of those days,” McGee said. “Some days, nothing happens; you just wake up and it’s a normal day. Some days mean a lot and you have to be on. I remember getting ready and thinking it was one of those days. It was going to be over pretty quickly, but I had a lot to accomplish from now until I could rest my feet again. I think the biggest thing was, even though it was important, not even thinking about the four until I got out of the pair. Having an awesome race in that boat geared me up for the next race.”
Having shown her racing ability and her adaptability at the world championships, McGee hopes to build on that success as the team heads into winter training. With the Olympics less than a year away, McGee will shift her focus on taking that next step in her rowing career – making the Olympic Team.