RIO DE JANEIRO — Amanda Polk considered a leaving her sport after the U.S. women’s eight rowing team won gold at the London Olympics without her.

But she stayed. Four years later, the U.S. team won again — with her in the boat.

Rowing in the third position, the Pittsburgh native won gold Saturday at the Rio Olympics, completing the 2,000-kilometer course in 6:01.49 in front of Great Britain and Romania.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Polk said. “I learned things about myself that I never would’ve learned if I hadn’t come back.”

The U.S. women’s eight rowing team has taken every gold medal it could since 2006, winning 11 consecutive titles and three Olympic gold medals. But it’s almost never been the same rowers leading the team.

Of the nine members of the team, eight rowers and a coxswain, only two rowed at the London Olympics in 2012. When they were on the water Saturday at the Lagoa Stadium, legacy pushed them forward.

Canada and the Netherlands led at the start, alternating between first and second place.

Moments later, U.S. coxswain and two-time gold medalist Katelin Snyder called out: “This is the U.S. women’s team!”

With her words ringing in their heads, Polk and her teammates surged into the first-place spot they never relinquished. When they finished, the Americans were almost a boat length ahead of second-place Great Britain.

“It’s electric,” said Emily Regan, who won gold with the team at the 2015 world championships. “Seven of us have never been here before, so, like it’s a totally new boat. This is so special for every single one of us.”

It was Polk’s second time at the Olympics, but her first time on the water. Polk was an alternate in London.

Watching instead of rowing with the team that won gold, the former rower at Oakland Catholic and University of Notre Dame briefly considered retiring.

Instead, Polk trained harder than she ever had before. In the four years that followed London, she won three more world championships with the team.

Polk said the last four years were some of the toughest of her life. It all seemed so worthwhile Saturday, when her siblings — Jessica, Natalie and Jarrad, who had traveled from Pittsburgh — were there to cheer her on.

“It just means a lot to us because we’ve seen her go through a lot of emotional struggles with not making London,” 20-year-old Jarrad Polk said. “Even though she was a spare [at the 2012 Olympics] she didn’t feel like a champion. It was just a big relief for all of us that all that hard work finally paid off.”

With the race behind her, the 29-year-old Polk was quick to credit her teammates and family for supporting her all the way to the finish line.

“Fifteen years of rowing, 30 years of family support, and an awesome group of girls who push me every day,” she said.

“No margin is big enough, no stroke is hard enough, but the important thing is we did this together.”

Cat Cardenas is reporting from the Rio Olympics for the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism

First Published: August 13, 2016, 3:23 p.m.
Updated: August 13, 2016, 7:51 p.m.