James Martinez and his extreme ethics
By Dennis McCafferty

Sure, many rowers are kind to the environment. But when it comes to Mother Earth, James Martinez notches an Alan Alda score for sensitivity.

Before flying overseas to big regattas, he plants hundreds of tiny dogwood and oak trees to make up for the fume-streaked skies he'll leave in his wake.

He doesn't own a car and bikes everywhere. He uses a tarp in his hallway to cut off unused rooms from heating and air conditioning. He uses a manual lawn mower, recycles everything, and washes dishes by hand.

No doubt about it, he's an energy-conscious guy. And in April he focused every last amp of his energy on the water at Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia, site of the U.S. Olympic rowing trials. It was a long shot, but Martinez made the team as an alternate for the sole position for a male single sculler.

While Martinez is considered among the top lightweight scullers in the country, there is no lightweight single scull category in the Olympics. So Martinez--his 160 pounds spread thin over a six-foot, three-inch frame--competed with the big boys for the slot. Favored single sculler Cyrus Beasley, in contrast, sports a beefy 224 pounds on a towering six-foot, six-inch physique.

During the trials, he remained reflective, ever philosophical about where rowing fits in with "life's rich pageant."

"My father was a great athlete and a gracious person," Martinez said, holding his toddler daughter, Sierra, in his limber arms. "To be both at the same time is extremely difficult. I am never alone. I have God and I have my family."

At their home in Augusta, Georgia, Martinez and his wife, Elizabeth, an environmental scientist, mark the washable calendar with blue marker for rowing events, green for the environment, red for work, and black for holidays. They send updates on rowing and family news to loved ones and reporters in a continuing series of dispatches titled "Journeys."

A graduate of Stanford University in 1988, Martinez grew up in the dirt-dry country of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was so impressed by Anne Marden's silver Olympic medal in Seoul that he sent her congrats in a note packed with silver confetti. Marden's response: Go for it.

He has ever since.

And along the way, he's promoted his environmental message to a multitude of newspapers and magazines. But not television. Martinez shuns the cameras, expressing a distaste for what he considers their crass commercialism.

His environmental philosophy fits right in with rowing, Elizabeth said. "It's using the human body for energy. James thinks a lot about that."

Before the trials, he had been fending off criticism that the only reason he sticks with a one-person boat is because he can't get along with a partner. (He has tried out the men's double scull, for which there is a lightweight category in this year's Olympics.) He admits that he's extremely focused on his goals and doesn't want to depend on another athlete who may show up late or cause other distractions.

"You lose time to your competition when that happens," Martinez said.

But no matter what happens on the water, U.S. rowing coach Bob Jaugstetter said one thing is certain: Martinez will be doing it his way.

"Although he may be taking a harder route than he could be, he feels what he's doing is correct for him and keeps his beliefs consistent with what he feels," Jaugstetter said.

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