| Rank | Event | Year | Location | Result |
| Olympic Games | ||||
| 1 | Eight | 2008 | Beijing, CHN | 6:05.34 |
| World Championships | ||||
| 1 | Eight | 2011 | Bled, SLO | 6:03.65 |
| 1 | Pair | 2009 | Poznan, POL | 7:06.28 |
| 1 | Eight | 2009 | Poznan, POL | 6:05.34 |
| 1 | Eight | 2007 | Munich, GER | 6:17.20 |
| 1 | Eight | 2006 | Eton, GBR | 5:55.50 |
| 3 | Pair | 2010 | Hamilton, NZL | 7:22.46 |
| World Cup | ||||
| 1 | Eight | 2012 | Lucerne, SUI | 5:59.26 |
| 1 | Eight | 2010 | Lucerne, SUI | 6:12.19 |
| 2 | Pair | 2011 | Munich, GER | 7:09.77 |
| 2 | Pair | 2010 | Lucerne, SUI | 7:14.24 |
| 3 | Pair | 2010 | Bled, SLO | 7:22.86 |
Hobbies
Watching movies, spending time online reading news, catching up with friends on a social networking site, playing saxophone, baking, doing laundry, watching Formula 1 racing or track and field on television. (US Rowing, 24 Sep 2007, rowingone.com, 06 Nov 2010)
Occupation
Athlete, Model, Writer
Education
Criminology, Sociology - University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia, PA, USA
Language(s) spoken
Hungarian, Spanish, English
Club name
US Rowing Training Center, United States
Coach
Tom Terhaar [national] (usrowing.org, 2011)
Position and style
Sweep (US Rowing, 22 Jan 2010)
Sporting relatives
She competes in the triathlon as part of her cross training. (universalsports.com, 01 Nov 2010)
Debut
2005 for Burkina Faso (mickelsoncrew.com, 22 Jan 2010)
Additional information
Start of sporting career
She took up the sport in her sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania in 2001. (US Rowing, 24 Sep 2007)
Reason for taking up this sport
Due to her tall height she says she was recruited by many coaches during high school "to play almost every sport imaginable except gymnastics. So I tried my hand at various sports. I didn't excel at any of them but I learned that sports were a great way to make friends and manage my time." After joining University of Pennsylvania she decreased her sporting activities but found her grades and social life subsequently suffered. She realised sport was essential for balance in her life, and after seeing pamphlets for the rowing team she gave it a try. She says in rowing she found, for the first time, a sport in which she naturally excelled. (susanfrancia.com, 31 Jan 2011)
Ambitions
She hopes to use modelling to increase the public profile of rowing in the United States. "I'd like to help to make rowing more mainstream." Also after her rowing career is over should would like to be an FBI agent so she can "hunt down bad guys.". (nbcolympics.com, 22 Jan 2010, usrowing.org, 02 Nov 2010)
Training
She trains two-three times a day, six days a week. When she is not travelling for competition she spends her spring, summer, and autumn in Princeton, NJ, where the USA women's rowing team has always trained, and winter at the USA rowing team's facility in San Diego, California. "We lose weight in the summer months because of the heat, so I have to make up for it by eating lots of ice cream," she says. (larchmont.patch.com, 27 Jun 2011)
Most memorable sporting achievement
Claiming gold in the women's eight at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. "After we won, I was so excited I forgot one of the lines in the national anthem, and made up for it by crying," she said. (US Rowing, 22 Jan 2010; larchmont.patch.com, 27 Jun 2011)
Most influential person in career
She attributes her work ethic and perseverance to her parents, and blames her sense of humour and love of pranks on her father. "My current coach Tom Terhaar has definitely influenced me the most. He knows what works and I really respect and trust his opinion. I also give him credit for putting up with my jokes and my immaturity especially early on in my training."
(worldrowing.com, 22 Jan 2010, youtube.com, 25 Jan 2010)
Awards
She was named USRowing's 2010 Female Athlete of the Year. (usrowing.org, 08 Nov 2010)
She was part of the FISA World Rowing Female Crew of the Year in 2009. (FISA, 2009)
In 2009 she and partner Erin Cafaro became the first US women's pair to win gold at the World Rowing Championships. (US Rowing, 25 Jan 2010)
The gold medal winning women's eight team she was part of at the Beijing Olympic Games was named FISA's World Rowing Female Crew of the Year in 2008. (FISA, 2008)
She was named a Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Division I All-American while attending the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. (US Rowing, 24 Sep 2007)
General
FROM HUNGARY TO THE US
She was born in Hungary but her parents moved the family to the USA when she was a two-year-old. (susanfrancia.com, 31 Jan 2011)
MODELLING
She appeared in the Body Issue of the ESPN magazine which was designed to show the effects training for several sports has on the body. Francia was snapped nude, picking up an oar in a position that cleverly left most of her body covered. "I did not know that it was going to be naked until the day of the shoot,'' Francia said. "I knew it was bodies. I thought I'd be in a bikini or something or Spandex. I knew it was going to be tasteful and I knew that I was in charge of my own pictures. I wanted something that was athletic and beautiful, to show that rowing is a beautiful sport and there are beautiful bodies in it." (boston.com, 18 Oct 2009)
TOUGH START
Her partner in the doubles, Erin Cafaro, revealed that their partnership did not get off to a great start. "Early on we had some awful, awful rows. There were some days when we came off the water and were frustrated with each other and we were actually wrestling in the Princeton boathouse. It was halfway joking, but serious. That's how it is when you're in a small boat. There's nothing to defuse it.'' (boston.com, 18 Oct 2009)
Previous Olympics
Beijing 2008
