P.E.I. rower Emily Cameron retires after Canada pulls women's quad sculls team

Summerside rower Emily Cameron is retiring from the national team after Team Canada decided not to try to qualify a heavyweight women's foursome in sculling for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio.

"Any athlete that's been training full time for six years, as I have, is obviously going to be disappointed when they aren't going to the Olympics, and I'm no different," she told CBC News.

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"I'm obviously quite disappointed but ultimately the decision lies within Rowing Canada."

I am leaving my career with Rowing Canada as a world silver medallist, and I did everything I could and ultimately I have no regrets.- Emily Cameron

Cameron had hoped to represent Canada at the Olympic Games in Rio, but she's now aiming to row for Oxford this fall while pursuing a master's degree in public policy.

"[It's] bittersweet. I think any athlete feels bittersweet at retirement," she said.

"Often you hope to retire after a big event at the Olympics or going out with a medal from World Championships, so at this point I am leaving my career with Rowing Canada as a world silver medallist, and I did everything I could and ultimately I have no regrets."

Heading back to P.E.I.

Cameron won a World Championship silver medal for Canada with the sculling quad in South Korea in 2013 and then had a sixth place finish at the Worlds in Amsterdam the following year.

Cameron will be back on P.E.I. for most of the summer, helping young rowers training to compete for P.E.I. at the upcoming Canada Summer Games in 2017. She's been an honorary member of Rowing P.E.I. since the group organized in 2010.

Her parents, Scott and Susan Cameron, are teaming up with Rowing P.E.I. to raise money for a racing boat for the team, to be dubbed the Emily Cameron.

A celebration of Cameron's career is planned for Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Charlottetown Yacht Club, where Cameron will officially christen the boat. Tickets are $30 and the money raised will go towards the new racing quad.

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