To row in Olympics, the boat must sing

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - It may take brute strength and skill to row a boat in the Olympics, but to get there you have to make the boat sing.

The boat that Olympic rowers -- like Grand Valley State University's Sarah Zalenka -- use is barely 2 feet wide with a hull that is egg-shell thin and glides across the water on a bare-bones budget.

Zelenka was in the GVSU rowing family, and is the only woman rower from the US to come from a club that doesn't start with Harvard or Princeton or Yale.

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GVSU underdog Sarah Zelenka makes Olympic rowing team

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Rowing is not easy. The blade must be in the river just right, the tempo of your stroke must be just right, it must grab as much water as possible, and you must stay in sync with the rest of the crew. When done correctly, it's simply beautiful.

Coach John Bancheri is the coach and after 32 years he still hears the song.

"What you don't hear in the boat, there's a gurgling sound like a scratching of the bottom of the boat. That's the water because the boat is ripping across it. To rowers, that is the ultimate high. That's music. The boat is singing."