Maggie Hogan has represented the United States on 21 World Championship teams in five different paddling sports -- everything from dragon boat racing to canoeing.  She was the first sprint kayaker to qualify for the U.S. team in the Rio Olympics. At 37, she’s headed to her first Olympic games. I talked with her from the Newport Aquatic Center in Newport Beach.

Is the water in Newport Beach good preparation for Rio?

In Rio, it’s on an open lake [a lagoon connected to the ocean]. We know the predominant wind comes from the south, so we’re expecting to be in pretty choppy water in Rio. I think this is probably the best place to train for that.

I was recently in Rio, and I could see that the sewage sometimes flows directly into the ocean. Are you concerned about that?

Definitely. I’ve prepared for 10 years to be able to race at the Olympics. The last thing we want is to get sick once we’re there. Unfortunately, we’ve had to race in dirty water before. I don't bring a water bottle in my boat. I don’t drink anything when I do training sessions. Just make sure you have good hygiene, and reduce your contact time as much as possible.

I know you’ve actually been using some new biomonitoring technology for kayakers. How does that work?

It’s basically an app on a smartphone, and it comes with two sensors. One that is taped onto your boat. The other is attached to the kayak paddle itself. So it can measure every angle, every tiny jostle in the boat. It can measure how far you’re going per stroke, how far you’re going on your left side versus your right side, and it’s all in real time. That information is relayed to your phone, which is in a dry pouch on the boat itself. 

So you’re actually watching on your phone as you’re kayaking? Does it improve your performance?

Definitely.  My coach and I are on a shoestring budget operating off of whatever we can fundraise. But we’re competing against [well-funded] teams like Great Britain's.  They have a staff of scientists that actually crunch this data for their athletes. So to be able to have this tool helps us level the playing field.

You’re a little bit older than most Olympic athletes. What’s it like to make your first Olympic games at age 37?

It’s definitely a dream come true. I started the sport pretty late in life. I didn’t start training for it full time until I was about 26 years old. Usually, around the world, kids are starting kayaking at maybe 12. But if you look at our Olympians and our medal winners, a lot of times they’re in their late 20s to early 30s. Our sport is very technical, and requires a lot of strength and power, and a lot of endurance. And that’s in probably the tippiest kayak in the world. Not only do you have to learn balance, but technique, speed and strength. It takes years to develop an athlete in all of those. 

How did you get into kayaking?

I was a swimmer at UC Santa Barbara, and I was an ocean lifeguard during my summers. There’s an event in lifeguarding called surf lifesaving -- kind of like an ocean triathlon. You do a swim, a paddleboard, and there’s this thing called a surf ski in a racing kayak. I was trying to learn to do that, and I could not keep it upright to save my life. It was so tippy. They’re not designed for just speed like the Olympic boats are. I got in one of the racing kayaks to learn how to surf ski, and here I am. I took a detour.

How does an intelligent kayaking fan watch a race? How do they notice things like the angle that you’re dipping the paddle into the water?

You probably wouldn’t notice. It’s happening so fast. In a 500-meter race, we’re probably taking 110-120 strokes per minute. To the naked eye, and if you were far away, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell if my stroke is 5 centimeters longer than the person in lane three. It’s a very long sprint, so you’ll see the more efficient paddlers do better in the second half of the race. If you’re looking for good technique, you’re going to see those girls excel in the second 250 of the race.

At the end of a long day of training, where are you sore?

Everywhere but my eyebrows. 

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.