INTERVIEW: olympic silver medalist emily cross

she's been a cadet world champion, a junior world champion (twice), and an ncaa champion (both individually and as a member of the 2005-06 harvard squad). and now, foilist emily cross is an olympic silver medalist. poop on boozer caught up with the blinged-out fencer as she celebrated a successful saturday in beijing.

POB: You've won at all levels, from Cadet to Junior to NCAA. What does it mean to win silver at the Olympics?

I think I can honestly say that there is no feeling like winning silver at the Olympics (except probably for winning gold), and being able to do it with my team was an incredible feeling.

POB: USA was seeded seventh but shocked the field and become the first American women's foil team to medal. What was the secret to your success?

I think the reason we were able to upset Poland and then Hungary was mostly how close we are as a team. A lot of what goes into a team event is trusting your teammates. Hanna, Erinn, and Doris are some of my closest friends, and I think that because we know and like each other so well we can work together very effectively.

POB: You personally had a great run against Hungary in the semifinal. Could you walk us through your rotations?

Against Hungary, we got a small lead in the first rotation, and were able to turn that into a big lead in the second two rotations because the Hungarians were forced to attack us, which gave us a tactical advantage. I personally had a good bout with Edina Knapek in the last rotation; we usually have pretty intense matches but this time I was able to have the right distance and timing and managed to score a bunch of touches on her, leaving a 14 touch lead for Erinn going into the final bout with Aida Mohamed.

POB: And what was it like watching the Hungarians come back?

It was incredibly nerve wracking watching Erinn's last bout. They instituted a rule where we couldn't tell advice as we usually do in team events, so we all felt so helpless. We ended up telling Erinn's brother Keeth things to shout from the stands since spectators can't get in trouble. Through it all, I had confidence that Erinn would pull it out in the end. Aida is a great closer in team, but there is a limit to how many unanswered touches someone can score. In addition Erinn has a lot of experience fencing Hungarians so I knew she would eventually find the right timing and score a few touches to end the bout.

POB: When you fenced Russia in the final, was there any impact stemming from the current political tensions?

I think fencing is pretty removed from political issues; it's such a small sport that you don't really think of a team as just a country because you know all the individuals on the team very well. Mostly what influenced that bout was the Russians being tall and strong and experienced - they have won countless world cups and world championships as a team, whereas this was our first ever team medal.

POB: Who is the coolest celebrity you have met in Beijing?

I met James Blake at opening ceremonies, which I think was pretty cool, especially since he was a fellow Harvard attendee.

POB: After this experience, is it going to be surreal to go back to Harvard?

I can't imagine what it'll be like going back to Harvard after this. For sure it'll be hard to get back into the swing of things - I'm just hoping I'll still be able to write a halfway decent paper.