Photo by: Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports
Four Badger rowers compete at Paris 2024 Olympics
August 14, 2024 | Women's Rowing, Lightweight Rowing
Two alumni make A finals at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium
All-Time Badger Olympians
PARIS – Making up the largest contingent on Team USA's women's rowing side among NCAA schools, four Wisconsin women's rowing greats completed their participation at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Two-time Olympian Madde Wanamaker led the way with an A Final appearance in the women's eight at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
Wanamaker (Neenah, Wisconsin) and her crew reached the A Final by winning the repechage and joining the two automatic qualifying crews. Team USA then raced to fifth place in the Final.
In Wanamaker's first Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020, her straight four placed seventh.
Wisconsin's remaining three Olympians each placed ninth.
Incoming UW coaching assistant and former Badger Sophia Vitas (Franklin, Wisconsin) reached the double sculls B Final after placing third in her heat and then fifth in her semifinal and took third to finish ninth overall.
Lauren O'Connor (Belleville, Wisconsin) and Grace Joyce (Northfield, Illinois) were both part of Team USA's quadruple sculls that placed ninth overall. They rowed to fourth place in their original heat, then finished fifth in the repechage to head to the B Final.
The four UW women's rowers in Paris marked the most for Wisconsin since the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, when four Badgers raced (Cindy Eckert, Carol Feeney, Sarah Gengler, Yasmin Farooq) and a fifth went as a spare (Kim Santiago).
In addition to the four Badger women who competed in Paris, 2016 Olympic rower Grace Latz made her presence known in Paris as an artist-in-residence, while 1984 Olympian, 1988 spare and UW Athletic Hall of Famer Kris Thorsness served on the Olympic Court of Arbitration.
PARIS – Making up the largest contingent on Team USA's women's rowing side among NCAA schools, four Wisconsin women's rowing greats completed their participation at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Two-time Olympian Madde Wanamaker led the way with an A Final appearance in the women's eight at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
Wanamaker (Neenah, Wisconsin) and her crew reached the A Final by winning the repechage and joining the two automatic qualifying crews. Team USA then raced to fifth place in the Final.
In Wanamaker's first Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020, her straight four placed seventh.
Wisconsin's remaining three Olympians each placed ninth.
Incoming UW coaching assistant and former Badger Sophia Vitas (Franklin, Wisconsin) reached the double sculls B Final after placing third in her heat and then fifth in her semifinal and took third to finish ninth overall.
Lauren O'Connor (Belleville, Wisconsin) and Grace Joyce (Northfield, Illinois) were both part of Team USA's quadruple sculls that placed ninth overall. They rowed to fourth place in their original heat, then finished fifth in the repechage to head to the B Final.
The four UW women's rowers in Paris marked the most for Wisconsin since the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, when four Badgers raced (Cindy Eckert, Carol Feeney, Sarah Gengler, Yasmin Farooq) and a fifth went as a spare (Kim Santiago).
In addition to the four Badger women who competed in Paris, 2016 Olympic rower Grace Latz made her presence known in Paris as an artist-in-residence, while 1984 Olympian, 1988 spare and UW Athletic Hall of Famer Kris Thorsness served on the Olympic Court of Arbitration.
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