Qualifying for the under-18 junior Olympic rowing team and setting a world record at the under-23 level, Grace Luczak thought she was on track to make the Olympic Games London 2012. But when she was cut from the U.S. National Team, running up against more seasoned rowers, Grace had to pause and reassess.
“I thought, ‘What steps do I need to take in order to make this dream happen?’” she said.
She headed straight for a training facility in Oklahoma City to join the other athletes cut from the team.
“We were all the rejects,” she jokes. “It was the fieriest group. We were all out there to prove a point.”
Eat. Sleep. Row.
Listening to Motown and R&B tracks on her pre-race playlist, the Michigan native did nothing but sleep, eat, and row until the next big global competition in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 2013. “We hopped in the boat and we’re like, ‘Alright, we trained really hard. We have no idea what we're going to do.’" Their coxswain shouted from her megaphone to motivate the team of eight, reminding them of their hard work, reminding them that they were all cut from the team the year before.
“Then there's this electric fire within the boat,” said Grace, now marketing analyst for Global Social Content Strategy & Ops for Sponsorships and Brand at Visa.
The team of “rejects” ended up setting a world record and clinching the gold medal, proving to themselves and the world that half the battle is showing up, over and over and over again.
Wanted: tall daughters for rowing team
Rowing wasn’t always on Grace’s radar.
But when Grace was in high school, her mom saw an auspicious query in the local newspaper:
“Do you have tall daughters? Would you like them to go to college for free? Have them try rowing.”
At almost 6-foot-3, Grace fit the bill, despite being a self-proclaimed “math nerd.” Her public high school in Michigan just happened to have a rowing team, which set her on a path to competitive rowing.
“I really love the sport,” said Grace. “There’s this poetry to it, the boat running underneath you sounds like icicles trickling along the boat; bald eagles and herons flying over, just being out on the water is magical.”
From rejection to Rio and beyond
Following that record-breaking performance, Grace qualified for the Olympic Games Rio 2016, her first time representing the U.S. National Team.
“It seemed unreal. Our bus pulled into one of the athletic facilities in Rio and the USA Basketball Team came out and it was all these big names and I’m like, ‘Are we really here for the same thing?’”
She was starstruck once more when she met President Obama after the Games.
“I remember being super chill until we turned a corner and there was [former President] Obama, [former First Lady] Michelle, and Vice President Biden, and I thought, OMG, this is real.”
Grace was set to join the Visa Champions Program, a two-year rotational program for retiring athletes, after the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. But then they were postponed until 2021.
“Visa was so incredibly flexible. They said, ‘You want to pursue this? We'll hold your spot for you next year.’ I joined a month after I competed in Tokyo.”
The ultimate team sport
As an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, Visa has supported athletes on their Olympic journey through Team Visa and after retirement through the Visa Champions program. “It’s such a powerful-grade program. I recommend it to everyone. I get messages all the time on LinkedIn from athletes who are retiring.”
Passionate about financial literacy, team building and mentorship, the two-time record-breaker in rowing now calls Boston home, where she lives with her husband.
“Rowing is the ultimate team sport because you have to be in perfect unison with everyone,” said Grace.
“You have to be a really succinct communicator because you’re out of breath most of the time. And whenever there’s a bump in the road, I don't get discouraged. It makes me knuckle down and work harder.”