Clan-Members » decision to pursue an Olympic dre

Toto Wolff believes high tyre pressures at the Belgian Grand Prix prevented Mercedes extracting the true potential of its cars downforce package, but says he is reluctant to blame Pirelli for the situation.Tyres became a key talking point over the race weekend as high minimum pressures resulted in unusually high levels of degradation. After experiencing two high-speed failures at Spa-Francorchamps last season, tyre manufacturer Pirelli prescribed higher pressures and less extreme camber settings this year to ensure its tyres were not pushed beyond their limits.However, the high pressures meant the tyres were prone to overheating and blistering when pushed too hard, which Wolff admits caused headaches for his team.I understand why Pirelli does it, he said. We are in the last season of those tyres, we had failures last year and integrity is super-important for a tyre supplier. Thats why we are blowing them up like balloons.All our development and all our simulations are being hurt by a tyre that is completely different in its behaviour than we were expecting. You have a contact patch that is half the size that was estimated, its very difficult.But I dont want to put the blame on anybody because its the same for everybody. Its just for us we have been consistent in our development and put the car on track in a way we thought was right, and then youre thrown off the track a little bit on a Friday or on a Saturday because the behaviour is completely different to expected. But this is what it is and hopefully next year with the larger tyres it will be different.Wolff believes Mercedes is now at a tipping point where the current tyres are no longer capable of transferring the cars downforce to the track without suffering severe degradation. As a result, he says his team is increasingly building its race strategies around tyre management rather than pushing to the limit.If we were to switch off all the microphones maybe I would be moaning and complaining that this is unfair and we shouldnt be doing that with the tyres. I also dont like looking at the temperatures and planning a race strategy based on temperatures and tyre pressures, but it is what it is and I dont think its sportsmanlike to find excuses. We just need to adapt as best as possible.We have a car with a lot of downforce and that is hurting us because we arent able to put the downforce on track because in between the tyre just gives up. But again this is maybe even going too far already because they [Pirelli] are having a tough job giving us a product that is right -- right for the teams, right for the engineers, right for the spectators for a great show -- so there will always be somebody moaning. Cheap Custom T-shirts . 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Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Custom Atlanta Hawks Jerseys Cheap .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Ask any elite athlete how she made it to the Olympics, and she will probably tell you a story about falling in love with her sport as a child. I am not one of those athletes.My Olympic journey began only six years ago when I Googled rowing lessons in Hartford, Connecticut. Working as a programming coordinator for ESPN in nearby Bristol at the time, I figured rowing could be a fun competitive outlet. I played volleyball and softball at the University of Virginia, but the rowing coach always told me he thought I was built for his sport. This was a chance to see if he was right.Ill never forget walking down to the boathouse for the first time. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, which was part of the allure. As a kid, youre not self-conscious. As an adult, you have to overcome that initial fear of looking ridiculous. And, as a 25-year-old, I saw that as the ultimate challenge.I was invited to join the team at the U.S. rowing training center in Princeton, New Jersey, less than six months later. It was a big surprise. And it didnt take long for one of my fellow athletes to start asking the questions Im sure everyone was wondering: Who are you? Where did you come from? What were you doing before this?The last one was easy. I had a full-time job -- a dream job at that. I had already worked out a part-time arrangement with ESPN in which I could work remotely when I wasnt training. While my fellow athletes slept and recovered, I answered emails and hopped on conference calls.By 2013 I knew I needed to let go of one dream job to pursue another. It was clear that the Rio Olympics was within my reach. Thanks to some encouraging friends and family, I took that last step off the ledge and left ESPN to train full time.That year I was fortunate to be paired up with two-time Olympian Ellen Tomek in the double sculls, and weve been together ever since. While we knew we had Olympic potential, we also knew that a lot could happen in the lead-up to Rio.Its easy to think your hard work deserves success, but thatt is not always true.dddddddddddd And last fall, we hit rock bottom. We had a terrible showing at the world championships. I was pissed off. Parts of me wondered if it was worth it to continue. I just wanted to forget it all.But on the flight home, we forced ourselves to list some things that needed to change in order to achieve our goals. It was time to move forward. Ellen and I decided to use our own funds to bring on Olympian Sarah Trowbridge as our coach, and the change was immediate.We became a cohesive team of three badass women. In April, just seven months later, we crossed the finish line at the U.S. Olympic trials in first. Wed secured our spots on the Olympic team. Its all a little blurry, but I remember yelling for joy -- with everything I had. The emotions were overwhelming and thanks to the media blitz that followed, I had little time to process our accomplishment. An appearance on The Today Show, and many more interviews -- lets just say these arent things we deal with on a daily basis as rowers.On one hand, I was thinking, This is incredible! On the other hand, I wanted to crawl into a corner and cry. Were so used to a seven-day-a-week training grind, that the disruption -- and all the attention -- really threw us for a loop.Honestly, I feel like my decision to pursue an Olympic dream was selfish. I wanted to see if I could do it, so I did. Now that Ive had some time to reflect, I find myself humbled by people who tell me Im an inspiration. I dont think of myself that way at all. The fact that I might inspire people is a huge, unexpected bonus.Of course, I know the job is not finished yet. Despite the fact that American teams have historically been underdogs in the womens double sculls event, Ellen and I have made it our mission to prove we belong in that elite group. I hope our success in that will be the next chapter in my unconventional Olympic story. ' ' '