Harvard Alumni Olympic Rowers... and Facebook Litigants

Two members of the 2008 U.S. men's Olympic rowing team hold Harvard degrees: Cameron Winklevoss ’04 and Tyler Winklevoss ’04...

Two members of the 2008 U.S. men's Olympic rowing team hold Harvard degrees: Cameron Winklevoss ’04 and Tyler Winklevoss ’04.

They happen to be identical twins.

The Boston Sunday Globe had a long article on the twins this week. If you've heard their names before, it's probably because of their lawsuit against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ’06. The suit, which was settled in February, claimed that the idea behind Facebook was conceived by the Winklevosses and their fellow plaintiff, Divya Narendra ’04, and that Zuckerberg accepted their payments to write computer code for a site called ConnectU, but stole the concept and used it in his own company.

The Globe's Barbara Matson writes:

The Winklevosses have taken a lot of guff about the lawsuit, because it's fun to ridicule Harvard, and because they have a background that includes Greenwich, summers in Quogue, and prep school. Also, they are impossibly constructed: 6 feet 5 inches tall, with shoulders that jut out like coat hangers, their limbs wrapped in the long, strong muscles typical of rowers, their heads crowned with identical waves of light brown hair.

Read more about the U.S. Olympic rowers at the official team site.

Related topics

You might also like

Harvard Students, Alumni to Compete at the 2026 Olympics

Six Crimson athletes are headed to the XXV Winter Games in Milano Cortina. 

Introductions: Dan Cnossen

A conversation with the former Navy SEAL and gold-medal-winning Paralympic skier

England’s First Sports Megastar

A collection of illustrations capture a boxer’s triumphant moment. 

Most popular

Harvard Professor Michael Sandel Wins Philosophy’s Berggruen Prize

The creator of the popular ‘Justice’ course receives a $1 million award.

The True Cost of Grade Inflation at Harvard

How an abundance of A’s created “the most stressed-out world of all.”

Martin Nowak Placed on Leave a Second Time

Further links to Jeffrey Epstein surface in newly released files

Explore More From Current Issue

Illustration of a person sitting on a large cresting wave, writing, with a sunset and ocean waves in vibrant colors.

How Stories Help Us Cope with Climate Change

The growing genre of climate fiction offers a way to process reality—and our anxieties.

A person climbs a curved ladder against a colorful background and four vertical ladders.

Harvard’s Productivity Trap

What happened to doing things for the sake of enjoyment?

Four Labrador puppies—two black and two yellow—sitting in green grass.

What Do Puppies Know?

Canine capabilities emerge early and continue into adulthood.