Emmie Frederico flashes Olympic rowing potential with Syracuse, Team Australia

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Emmie Frederico’s Australian rowing team was without a full crew for weeks before the U23 World Championships in July 2022. One member broke her ribs. Another flew home due to an urgent family matter. Still, Frederico steered her crew to success.

Frederico served as the stroke of the boat, tasked with setting the pace. She said the crew began slowly and planned to build their speed as time went on. Once other boats increased their speed, though, Frederico said she had to adjust the boat to remain fast for a long time.

The strategy worked. Frederico’s boat finished in 6:44.15 and earned a gold medal.

“It was a perfect race,” Frederico said. “We had a really clean middle section and then the end was just completely emptying the tank. Given the circumstances of what our boat had been through, it just made it even more special.”

Rowing internationally has taught Frederico, a Syracuse graduate student from Melbourne, Australia, valuable lessons about resilience and humility. It’s also helped her stand out as one of the top rowers on SU’s women’s squad. Frederico’s teammates and coaches believe an exposure to high-level rowing will help her make the Australian national and Olympic teams.

“She’s someone who has done amazing things in her career thus far,” said former SU associate head coach Claire Ochal. “She’s already pretty well entrenched in the Australian system. A huge piece of the puzzle is doing that at all different levels.”

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Frederico did not start rowing until she was in ninth grade at Firbank Grammar School. But Frederico’s father, uncle and grandfather all rowed or coached competitively. Her father, Freddie, ultimately convinced her to try the sport. In 2019, she committed to row at San Diego State, a school not known for its rowing program.

Before arriving at SDSU, Frederico rowed with Mercantile Rowing Club, one of two elite clubs in Victoria, Australia. There, she began to love the competitive side of rowing.

“Mercantile just made me want to keep working harder and do more outside to make myself a better rower,” Frederico said.

Frederico said she knew San Diego State wasn’t the best place to further her rowing career, but stuck with the team. Then, COVID-19 hit, causing SDSU to cut its rowing program. As a result, Frederico contemplated returning to Australia until her former Mercantile teammate and current SU rower, Aphrodite Gioulekas, reached out about coming to Syracuse.

Frederico was enticed, and committed to Syracuse in 2021. She credits SU’s coaching staff, especially Ochal and head coach Luke McGee, for being the main factor in her decision.

“(Frederico) has Australian national team aspirations, and I knew that someone like (McGee) would be able to give her a really good opportunity to be successful after the collegiate level,” Gioulekas said. “I was excited for her to be in a super competitive environment where she can hit those standards.”

Following her U23 title, Frederico broke out in her first season with the Orange. She served as the four-seat for SU’s varsity 8, which won the Pocock Cup, placed second at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and finished 17th at the NCAAs.

And last season, despite battling a back injury in the preseason, Frederico recovered and rowed as the bow-seat for Syracuse’s varsity 8 — finishing first in the ACC Championships and eighth in the NCAA Finals.

“To be able to work through that (injury) and be a part of that boat and win (ACCs), it was very rewarding,” Frederico said.

With Frederico’s success internationally, paired with her early numbers at Syracuse, McGee said her teammates look up to her. But the head coach added that the extra attention has increased her humility.

“She’s won the U23 world championship, but she doesn’t have any sense of ego that goes with that,” McGee said.

After she graduates this spring, Frederico plans to train for the Australian national team until October with hopes of competing at the 2028 Olympics. Gioulekas said throughout her final season at Syracuse, she will focus on little things like developing a healthy sleep schedule and getting proper nutrition to give herself an edge.

“You see some other women that she’s rowing against that are physically much bigger than her, but she’s this person who just can’t be beat,” Ochal said. “She’s super tough and just wants to compete. I think those things will help her so much as she goes on to pursue that next level of rowing.”