Then one day, there was Cyrus ...
By Dennis McCafferty

When you're just some rookie from a dinky club team--some no-name who slapped down on a rowing machine and clocked a time that national team members die for--people tend to talk about you.

When you're built like a football tight end and make the national team almost immediately, they start building high expectations.

When you sport wavy locks of golden hair and steel blue eyes, and you like to windsurf and once were a lifeguard, the media decides you're a good story. They even love your name--Cyrus. Kind of like Bronko. Or Thor.

For Cyrus Beasley, it all became a bit too much in April at the U.S. Olympic rowing trials on Lake Lanier. When he wasn't on the water, he holed himself up in the Gainesville, Georgia, home he was staying at and watched videos. He politely declined media interviews, saying the press would have to wait until the racing was finished.

"In the past, I've done the media thing," said Beasley, de-rigging his shell after his final win on Sunday. "This time, it was a little difficult. It's very stressful. This is really the biggest race of my life so far and I wanted to maintain focus on what was important and getting done the job I came here to do."

He did. Winning two finals races over the weekend in convincing fashion, Beasley's excellent adventure took a huge step forward. He'll represent the United States as its sole men's single sculler.

"This is a dream come true," Beasley said after the races, now looking more his laid-back, beach dude image with a sea-stone necklace and razor shades.

"The last couple of days, it's been slipping inside my head--if you win on Sunday, that's it, you made the Olympics ... I'm sure it will hit me sometime tonight and I'll be jumping up and down on the bed."

Two years ago, it seemed improbable.

Escaping the Northeast, Beasley came to Emory University in Atlanta and joined the club rowing team. But his 7:45 rowing machine time in the 2,500 meters wowed coaches and earned him an invite to the national sculling training center in Augusta.

There he was, just some guy from a club team--in the Deep South, no less--trying to earn a spot amid all the Northeastern men from rowing country. People who had made their mark in the sport for years.

Beasley excelled though, and dominated the U.S. single sculling field.

But he has also known disappointment. Last year, he failed to make the finals at the World Rowing Championships. Coach Igor Grinko urged Beasley to switch to the quadruple sculls, but the young athlete resisted. Tension between the two resulted in Beasley's leaving the Augusta camp after the world games and heading to San Diego to train with national team coach Mike Spracklen.

Grinko said he wanted Beasley's power in the quad, which he felt would give it a strong medal chance during the Olympics. In the single sculls, Beasley faces a field loaded with strong international competition.

"I wish him luck," said Grinko, a former Soviet coach. "I wish him gold medal. But I wanted the quad faster because this is the best chance at gold medal."

For now, Beasley is looking to make the Olympic finals. It won't be his first and last stab at the games, and he may have to wait four more years before wearing a medal.

"You have to remember that he started sculling only two years ago," said sculling coach Bob Jaugstetter. "People saw him as a rising star and were disappointed last year. I thought he did great last year. ... Sure, he's a rising talent, but let's not expect too much, too soon."

Dennis McCafferty covered the rowing trials for Outside Online. He is a staff writer on the state news desk for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.